


blessed be, oh sisters of magic

by MissWriteress16



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Charmed (TV) Fusion, Belligerent Sexual Tension, F/M, Magic, San Francisco, Sisters, Warlocks, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22191526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissWriteress16/pseuds/MissWriteress16
Summary: The power of three will set you free...Most families have secrets. But for Lucy, Amy and Jiya Preston their family's secret is a bit bigger than most: namely, they're witches. Not just witches but the Charmed Ones, a trio of sisters prophesied to be the most powerful witches the world has ever known.Honestly, they would prefer finding out someone in their family was a murderer.And when Garcia Flynn comes into their lives, knowing quite a bit about magic and chasing an evil organization, the Preston sisters have to question everything they thought they knew as they navigate their new destiny as the protectors of the innocent.
Relationships: Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston, Rufus Carlin/Jiya
Comments: 17
Kudos: 31





	1. A Little Bit Wicca Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is something I've been working on for a while because my mind thought about Lucy, Amy and Jiya as the Charmed Ones and I just ran with it.
> 
> I'll be mixing elements from both the Original and Remake (mainly I'll be drawing spells from the Remake as well as Amy's powers will be more like Mel's than Piper's though they don't appear like it at first).
> 
> I'm going for a mix between Charmed plotlines and the overall plot of Timeless (there will be time travel) so this should be interesting.

Rain battered the windows of the small apartment as a young woman wandered through it, wrapping her robe tightly around herself. She came to a stop in front of an altar, kneeling before it.

A finger raised, she began lighting the candles one by one, before shutting her eyes and beginning to chant a spell she knew so well. Caught up in the ritual, she almost didn’t hear the footsteps slowly approaching her.

Her body tensed as she rose and turned quickly, only to let out a small laugh when she saw who was behind her. “Really, why do you have to sneak up—”

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as the figure plunged a dagger into her chest. A strangled scream of pain escaped her as he twisted the dagger before letting her drop to the ground.

Staring at the still-lit candles, the figure absently waved his hand, extinguishing them before turning and walking away from the lifeless woman.

* * *

“Lucy!”

Lucy Preston looked up when she saw one of her colleagues appear in the doorway. “Hey Gwen, how’s the niece doing?”

“Oh, you know, doesn’t sleep through the night,” Gwen laughed as she stepped into the office, her gaze drifting over the stack of the papers. “Makes me glad I don’t have kids.”

“I can imagine,” Lucy put aside one paper and reached up to grab another, cursing when she accidentally knocked one off. She shot Gwen a grateful smile when she caught it. “Thank you, I can’t imagine my students would be pleased if I lost one of their papers.”

“You’re seriously staying late grading papers?” Gwen shook her head. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised; your mother is Carol Preston, after all.”

Lucy smiled weakly, before letting out another groan as her phone rang as it had for the past hour, glaring at it as if that would make it stop. She knew it was her mother—could see her picture and the name _Mom_ flash on the screen—but she _really_ couldn’t talk right now.

Gwen glanced at her phone before looking at it with a raised eyebrow. “Uh, shouldn’t you get it?”

“Well, as you can see, I’m kind of busy,” Lucy gestured absently at the two stacks of papers on her desk. “They’ve been sitting on my desk for about a week now, and I promised my students I would have them back in two weeks so…”

Gwen nodded, slowly backing out. “Alright then, I’ll leave you to it, goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Lucy replied, watching Gwen leave and shut the door behind her before turning her attention back to her papers.

The phone rang again and letting out an angry noise she picked up her phone and answered it, carefully adopting a polite tone as she greeted, “Mom, hey, look I’m in the middle of grading some papers so can I just call you back later and—”

_“Lucy, you need to come home now.”_

“What?” Lucy frowned; her papers forgotten as she sat up straighter. “Mom, is something wrong?”

 _“No, Lucy, not…”_ There was a pause before Carol Preston, in a calm tone, came back on the line. _“Look, I’ve already called Amy and Jiya, just please come home.”_

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Lucy let out a huff. “Alright, alright, I’ll be there soon.”

 _“Thank you_ ,”

Lucy opened her mouth to say something else but was cut off by the dial tone, staring at the phone for a few minutes before sighing and gathering her things.

Making sure to lock the door behind her, Lucy began the trek to her car, her heels clicking against the floor. With it being so late, the campus was almost still with only a few lingering bodies around. Lucy appreciated that.

There was movement out of the corner of her eye, and she froze, twisting only to see nothing behind her. “Hello?”

She got no response, and after looking around one last time, she quickened her pace towards her car, unaware of the figure that watched her for a few minutes before vanishing.

* * *

_“Just a few hours ago, police were called to the fifth-floor apartment of Serena Frederick, the latest victim in a series of killings that have shaken San Francisco…”_

Flynn looked up from where he was cleaning his gun, a frown forming on his face when he saw the reporter standing in front of an apartment complex. Police cars were visible in the background, as was the yellow crime scene tape.

Checking his gun, he proceeded to holster it, grabbing his brown coat and swinging it on as he stepped out into the living room. He frowned when he saw the same news channel, a brunette girl curled up on the couch and watching it with a curious expression on her face.

“Should you really be watching that, Iris?”

Iris Flynn startled, sitting up quickly and turning to look at her father. “First, I really wish you would stop doing that Dad and second, that’s the fourth woman in three weeks.”

Flynn hummed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Watching the news is only going to make you worry more.”

“And where are you going?” Iris frowned, peering at him with a suspicious look. “Are you doing the thing?”

Flynn chuckled at the non-descriptor. “Yes, I am doing the thing.”

Iris watched her father walk to the door, opening it slightly before turning to look at her with a serious expression. “Remember when I leave…”

“Lock the doors, activate the crystals, don’t open the door for anyone except you,” Iris recited as if she had heard this a million times before. “I know, Dad, please be careful?”

Flynn nodded, blowing her a kiss that she caught. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Iris replied as the door shut behind him. She sighed before turning to look at where crystals lined the window sills of their apartment.

“Crystals of this house, release your energy, surround us with your shield, perform your cause,” Iris chanted, watching the crystals glow as something filled the air.

Satisfied, she turned back to the TV, picking up the remote and turning up the volume.

* * *

The crime scene was already busy when Flynn pulled up, parking his car a few blocks away to avoid being spotted. A crowd had already formed and were being pushed back by officers as cameras flashed.

Flynn frowned, knowing there was no way he could get in the front without being noticed. He glanced around and raised an eyebrow when he saw an alley behind the apartments, grinning in triumph.

Quietly walking into the alley, it appeared the officers hadn’t yet begun searching this area as he opened what appeared to be a maintenance door, glancing around before slipping in and began climbing the stairs two at a time, keeping an eye out to ensure no one was going to wander into the stairwell and see someone who wasn’t supposed to be there.

Opening the door to the fifth floor, he peered out and smiled when he saw the two officers who were supposed to be guarding the open door with crime scene tape over it were distracted by a woman with red hair and a charming smile.

Pulling a pair of gloves out of his pocket, he took in the crime scene, thankful no one decided to pay him a second glance. He casually walked over to the partially covered woman on the ground, kneeling beside her and frowning when he saw the tattoo—what looked like a circle with three interlocking arcs—on her chest.

“Same as the other three victims,” he muttered to himself, standing up and walking over to the altar. The carvings were the exact same as the other three victims.

“So, you were a witch,” he mused to himself as he looked back at the woman. “The question is, who has decided to start killing witches?”

“Garcia Flynn,” Flynn startled, turning with a shameless grin to see a familiar face glaring at him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Inspector Wyatt Logan,” Wyatt looked unamused at the faux cheer in his voice. “I was just in the neighbourhood and decided to stop by, your colleagues were occupied, so I let myself in.”

He gestured at the officers who turned red in embarrassment. Wyatt spared them a dark look before turning back to Flynn.

“You can’t show up at a crime scene without proper authorization, this isn’t an NSA operation—don’t touch that!”

Wyatt barked as Flynn picked up a picture. Putting it down, Flynn raised his hands in a don’t-shoot-me gesture, though he looked more amused than scared.

The San Francisco Police Department had unfortunately become familiar with Garcia Flynn in the last few years though Wyatt—for reasons he couldn’t comprehend—was the one who tended to run into him more often than not.

An NSA asset turned agent turned private investigator, Flynn had a habit of popping up in their cases, particularly ones that weren’t exactly normal. Given Wyatt’s tendency to be assigned such cases, that might explain why he crossed paths with Flynn more than anyone else in Homicide.

“She was stabbed, wasn’t she?” At Wyatt’s blank look, Flynn elaborated. “The woman, she was stabbed with an athame.”

“She was stabbed with a double-edged steel knife,” Wyatt’s patience was starting to wane, especially when Flynn grinned.

“That would be an athame,” Flynn turned his back on Wyatt, gesturing at the altar. “Your killer is on a witch hunt.”

“Really, I’ll tell CSU to look for her broom—shouldn’t you be home, Flynn?” Wyatt asked as Flynn examined the altar more closely. “Your daughter’s what, thirteen? A bit too young to be home alone, especially with a psycho on the loose…”

Wyatt trailed off, trying not to flinch when Flynn turned and piercing him with a dark look. “Thank you for that assessment of my parenting skills, Inspector, I’ll just ignore that.”

“An athame is a ceremonial tool used by witches to direct magical energy,” Flynn explained. “The killer could have brought their own or stolen it from one of the victims.”

“I assume you have a point to all this.”

“The killer isn’t even close to being done yet,” Flynn stated calmly as if they were discussing the weather. “He probably already has his next victim picked out.”

Wyatt opened his mouth to comment but was interrupted by his partner Dave Baumgardner entering. “Hey Wyatt, I spoke with the neighbours and—what are you doing here, Flynn?”

“I was just on my way out,” Flynn replied with a dark smile as he walked by, patting him on the shoulder. “Oh, and I hope one of you got that woman’s number, officers!”

With that final remark, Flynn left the crime scene, walking up to the elevator and pressing the button. He took advantage of the silence to work through his thoughts, this killer had already taken the lives of four witches and he was probably looking for another one.

Flynn didn’t know what they were—a witch hunter, a warlock?—but they were on a mission. He clenched his fists, knowing that the killer had only popped up three weeks ago, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t killed before…

_Lorena…_

Flynn shut his eyes, remembering pain and blood and grief before the _ding_ of the elevator doors made him snap out of it. Cameras flashed in his face, and after adopting a suitably intimidating expression, he trudged through the reporters, ignoring the various calls for his attention.

“Sir, are you an inspector on this case?” Flynn turned to see a young reporter staring expectantly at him. “Mark King, San Francisco Chronicles, care to make a comment?”

“A woman was stabbed,” Flynn replied, punctuating the statement with a glare that was known to be the terror of seasoned criminals and unsuspecting baristas alike. “Plain and simple.”

With that final remark, he turned away from the reporter and headed outside to his car.

* * *

“Ok, what did you do, Amy?”

“Why are you assuming _I_ did something, Jiya?” Amy asked with a pointed glare, quickly turning to shut the door to avoid letting any rain in.

“Because it’s usually a fair assumption when it comes to you and Mom,” Jiya pointed out, hands on her hips while she stared at the flickering chandelier with a frown. “We really need to get that fixed…”

“I thought Mom called a handyman to come and take a look at it,” Amy huffed as she took off her coat and put her umbrella down.

The door swung open again just as lightning flashed and Lucy entered quickly, rubbing her hands together to get some warmth back in them while Amy hurried to shut the door behind her. “It’s really coming down hard.”

“Jiya thinks this family meeting’s my fault, by the way,” Amy stated, causing Jiya to sigh as Lucy blinked.

“Well…” Lucy trailed off when Amy gave her another look. “Come on, Amy, you and I both know you have a habit of doing things that make Mom want to call these family meetings, not because they actually _warrant_ them, but because in Mom’s eyes, they do.”

“Always the peacemaker Luce,” Amy noted with a smile, though it quickly turned into a frown when she saw a vase of flowers sitting on the kitchen table next to—

“Is that our old spirit board?”

Jiya nodded, smiling slightly as Amy walked over to pick it up. “It was on the table when I came in with the flowers, which I think are from Mark.”

Turning the board in her hands, Amy ran her fingers over the inscription on the back and read aloud, _“To my three girls, may you never be afraid of your destiny, the power of three will set you free.”_

“Mom’s never told us what she meant by that,” Jiya mused as she walked over with Lucy to stare at the inscription. “Maybe that’s what the family meeting is about?”

Amy snorted, putting the board down. “Yes, Mom’s going to tell us about how this inscription is speaking of an ancient destiny written in the stars for us.”

“Somehow, I think this meeting is going to be something more ordinary than that.”

* * *

Hearing voices from downstairs, Carol smiled when she realized all her daughters were home, turning to stare at the old tome lying on the table. She reached out to run a hand over the cover, tracing the three interlocking arcs with her finger.

Walking over to where four candles had been arranged in a circle, she lit each one before getting on her knees. She exhaled sharply before beginning to chant, _“Hear now these ancient words, the secrets hidden in the night,”_

At that moment the windows of the attic flew open, causing the flames to flicker but Carol kept going, _“The oldest of Gods are invoked here, the great work of magic is sought—”_

The arcs on the book began glowing as the wind got stronger, frustrated Carol waved her hand at the windows to close them. _“Unravel these chains, unbind what once was bound,”_

_“In this house and in this hour, I call upon the ancient power,”_

At that moment, the lights went out.

* * *

_“Ah!”_

“Really?” Amy asked, irritated as they were plunged into sudden darkness.

Jiya quickly headed into the kitchen, the sound of her rummaging echoing in the quiet house before she came back with three flashlights that she handed to her sisters.

“It’s probably the circuit breaker, I’ll go down to the basement to…” Lucy trailed off as her gaze travelled to the spirit board, her eyes widening when she realized what she was seeing. “Amy, Jiya!”

“What are you—?”

Amy looked where her sister was pointing and froze when she saw the pointer of the spirit board move to _A._

“You guys see that, right?” Jiya whispered, the hand holding her flashlight shaking as the pointer slid down to _T_. “I’m not going crazy?”

“Not unless we’re all going crazy, Jiya,” Lucy replied, frowning when Amy suddenly made a detour into the kitchen just as the pointer stopped at _T_ again. “What are you doing, Amy?”

Amy came back in with a paper and pen, a determined look on her face as she began writing down the letters as the pointer touched them: An _I_ , then a _C._

She stared at the paper for a few minutes before showing it to her sisters: _Attic_.

“Oh no, no, no,” Jiya shook her head even as Lucy and Amy began heading to the stairs. “Do any of you guys watch horror movies? Attics are right up there with basements in _places you do not go_ , especially when we’ve never been able to _open_ said attic.”

“Jiya, maybe Mom’s up there,” Lucy pointed out, shining the flashlight at Jiya, which caused her to cover her eyes. “Like you said, the door’s probably locked anyway.”

With that, Lucy and Amy continued up the stairs, leaving Jiya to mutter to herself even as she followed them. They walked into the hallway and turned left, where the stairs that led up to the attic were, and paused when they saw the door to the attic was wide open.

“Ok then,” Amy muttered, sharing a look with Lucy and Jiya before shrugging. “We’ve made it this far, right?”

With those reassuring words, Amy began climbing the stairs, Lucy and Jiya following behind her and as they got closer to the door, they could hear what sounded like—

“Mom?”

Lucy whispered in confusion as they reached the top of the stairs, unprepared for what was before them: Carol kneeling in front of an altar and chanting loudly.

“ _Give the power to these sisters three, release the power of three, release the power of three, release the power of three.”_

Lucy couldn’t help but let out a gasp as the windows to the attic burst open, and the gust of wind blew out the candles, leaving them in the dark for a few minutes before the lights came back on.

“Mom, what the hell was that?”

Amy demanded, her eyes wide even as Carol calmly stood up and turned to them.

“Ah, girls, I’m glad you were able to come—”

“No,” Amy held up a hand to stop her mother, causing Carol’s mouth to thin into a firm line. “You don’t get to change the subject from—whatever the hell that was, why were you chanting?”

Lucy wandered over to the table where the book rested, picking it up and opening it to the first page. “ _The Book of Shadows_?”

Her expression became disbelieving as she turned to Carol, who looked rather calm. “Mom, this is a book of witchcraft!”

Carol smiled. “Good job, Lucy, I know you would figure it out.”

“Figure what out?” Jiya shook her head. “Mom, what’s going on?”

“I’ve been waiting a long time for you to receive this,” Carol explained, looking at each woman. “You see, I’m a witch.”

There was a moment of silence before Amy opened her mouth, likely to make a smart remark when Carol held out her hands and the book in Lucy’s hands flew into hers.

“What the—?”

Lucy asked, staring at the book with a look of fear as she came to stand beside Amy and Jiya. Carol looked nonplused as she continued, “I come from a long line of good witches, meant to fight the forces of evil.”

“A long time ago, a prophecy was made that as each generation of good witches grew stronger, three sisters would be born,” Carol put the book down, running a hand over the cover. “These sisters would be the most powerful witches the world has ever known and would be known as the Charmed Ones.”

“And you think we’re these sisters?” Amy sounded disbelieving.

“I know you are; it was foretold when Lucy was born, and when I took in Jiya, we’ve been waiting—”

Amy held up a hand to stop her, her gaze sharp “Wait, you _knew_?”

“You knew this was going to happen, and you didn’t think to tell us?” Lucy asked in a soft whisper, hurt in her tone.

Jiya remained silent, though her expression echoed the hurt that Lucy was feeling.

“I did what I had to,” Carol said simply, and Amy let out a snort, turning to leave the attic.

“Oh, this is just _great_.”

“Did Dad know?” Lucy asked, ignoring Amy’s angry tone. “Did he know about this?”

“Of course not,” Carol huffed as if that was a ridiculous question to ask. “Why would he know?”

“Because he was your husband, the father of your daughters?” Amy suggested, not seeing the expression that quickly appeared on Carol’s face only to vanish. “But then again, we all know how you view your family.”

She turned on her heel, storming past Lucy and Jiya. “I’m done with this.”

“Amy…” Carol said in a warning tone as she hurried after her, Lucy and Jiya following close behind. “You can’t just walk away from—”

“No, you don’t get to do that,” Amy snapped angrily as she stomped down the stairs, whirling to face her. “I knew you had a thing about making us live the way you want, God knows that’s why you forced Lucy into pursuing tenure at Stanford,”

“Amy!” Lucy exclaimed with wide eyes, looking between her mother and sister. “That’s not necessary.”

“No offence Luce, but this isn’t something you can excuse,” Amy replied, glaring at Carol. “She hid the fact that we had these…these _abilities_ and now is all ‘oh by the way, here’s this destiny, have fun!’ as if it isn’t going to upend all of our lives!”

“This is your inheritance Amy; these powers have been passed down from generation to generation—”

“Most people get a vase or a house as an inheritance, Mom,” Amy huffed as she began pulling on her coat. “ _Not_ a book of witchcraft.”

“I’ve had a hard enough time putting up with you trying to control Lucy’s life, but I draw a line when you start trying to control me and Jiya’s.”

She shot a humourless smile at Carol as she opened the door, the wind hitting her face. “Have fun with your potions.”

With that, she slammed the door behind her, making the chandelier shake. Carol rolled her eyes. “She always was dramatic.”

“She also has a point,” Lucy pointed out as she walked down the stairs, shaking her head. “I love history, Mom, but I also went into it because _you_ wanted me to.”

“This thing with witchcraft, you’ve dragged all of us into this, and you didn’t even _ask_ us if we wanted this.”

“This _thing_ , Lucy, is your legacy,” Carol’s tone became sharp as she turned, fixing Lucy and Jiya with a glare. “You, Amy and Jiya don’t have a choice in the matter; it’s always been predestined.”

“Well, maybe that’s wrong,”

Lucy replied quietly as she walked past her mother, a wave of hurt rolling over her because god, this was the same old story with her mother, pushing Lucy to continue her legacy, but this was on a whole other level because she was explicitly _saying_ she had no choice in the matter.

“Where are you going?” Carol demanded as Lucy began putting on her coat while Jiya quietly walked up to her. “Jiya?”

“I still have papers to grade,”

“And I have a study date with Rufus,” Jiya replied softly, grabbing her coat and forcing herself to not look at Carol. “Can you give me a ride Lucy?”

“Yeah,” Lucy opened the door, allowing Jiya to go in front of her, and looked at her mother one last time before closing the door behind her.

* * *

“Jiya? Earth to Jiya?”

Jiya blinked, turning to see Rufus staring at her with a worried expression. She straightened, realizing that she had zoned out while she and Rufus had been working on their Software Development assignment.

“Are you ok?” Rufus asked in a low voice, mindful of the fact they were in their university’s library. “You’ve been distracted since you got here, did something…did something happen with your mom?”

Jiya’s mouth twitched when she heard the hesitation in Rufus’s voice, knowing that he—along with pretty much everyone who knew about her family dynamic—considered her mother a delicate topic.

“If,” Jiya paused for a moment, Rufus looking at her expectantly. “Let’s say, hypothetically, you were told you had something important to do, but you didn’t have a choice in whether or not to refuse it: you _have_ to do it,”

“Kind of like Luke when he was told he had to fight Darth Vader?” Rufus’s forehead wrinkled. “Although, in the end, he _did_ end up saving him so…”

Jiya sighed, glaring at her computer. “It’s just, I don’t _like_ being told what to do Rufus, I’m more than capable of making my own choices.”

“Is that what your mother did?” Rufus looked annoyed on her behalf, which made Jiya warm with appreciation. “I know she’s been controlling Lucy’s life for, well, pretty much ever—which I still think is messed up, by the way—but I thought she usually left you alone?”

“Yeah, well, apparently that’s changed,” Jiya knew the bitterness had seeped into her tone, but she didn’t really care at the moment.

A hand covered her own, and she looked up, startled, to meet Rufus’s gaze. He flushed a bit, his gaze flickering down to their joined hands before he quickly lifted his eyes with a cough.

“Jiya, despite what Carol Preston may think, you don’t _have_ to obey her if you don’t want to.”

Jiya agreed with that, at least usually, but there was still a part of her that remembered how Carol had mentioned she came from a line of witches who fought the forces of evil.

If she didn’t do this, if her sisters didn’t, would they be allowing the forces of evil to win? There was enough evil in the world already, could she really turn around and let there be more?

Her phone rang at that moment, and she quickly removed her hand from Rufus’s—who quickly looked away—and frowned when she saw her mother’s name and picture flash on the screen.

“You can let it go to voicemail, you know, we’re still only halfway through,” Rufus pointed out.

Jiya picked up the phone only to jerk as an image flashed in her head:

_Carol is in their house at the top of the stairs, arguing with a person Jiya can’t see before she’s pushed down the stairs. She rolls down the stairs and lands in a heap on the floor, not moving._

“Jiya?”

Jiya’s eyes snap open, and she looks down at her dropped phone to see, her heart sinking, her screen was blank. She quickly stood up, beginning to pack up her stuff even as Rufus tried to stop her.

“Jiya, hey—hold on a minute, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Rufus, but I have to go home,” Jiya tried to explain, her hands shaking as she put her laptop into her bag. “There’s…something’s wrong with my mom.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

Rufus asked, but it was left unanswered as Jiya ran out of the library, nearly running over someone and only barely stopping to apologize.

She immediately dialled Lucy’s number and held the phone to her ear, waiting until she picked up, “Lucy? We need to go home _now_.”

* * *

“So, you’re saying you had a vision that Mom got attacked, and that’s why you called all of us in a panic to get home?”

Amy sounded disbelieving and considering what had happened with Carol, Jiya supposed she couldn’t blame her. “I know how it sounds, Amy, but I’m telling you, I _feel_ like something bad happened.”

The three of them stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the front door, huddled together under their umbrellas as the rain poured down on them.

Lucy sighed. “Amy, I’m still upset at her too, but she’s our mother and if something happened…?”

Amy muttered something under her breath but followed Lucy as she began walking up the steps, Jiya hurrying behind them.

Opening the door, Lucy peered in, waiting until Jiya and Amy rushed in before shutting the door. “Mom, are you here? Jiya was…”

Whatever Lucy was going to say died on her tongue as she stepped further in, seeing a familiar figure lying at the bottom of the stairs. “Mom?!”

“Mom!”

Jiya and Amy cried out as Lucy rushed to Carol, whose eyes were closed. She kneeled next to her, feeling for a pulse and breathing a sigh of relief when she found it. “Call an ambulance!”

Amy had already pulled out her phone, whatever anger still lingering for her mother buried underneath her worry as she began speaking into the phone while Jiya walked towards where a familiar book lay next to her mother. “Yes, I would like to report an accident…”

Jiya picked up the Book of Shadows, staring at the glowing arcs on the cover while the sounds of sirens echoed in the distance.


	2. A Little Bit Wicca Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy, Amy and Jiya deal with the aftermath of their mother's attack and their newfound abilities. Later Flynn and Lucy have an encounter in a hospital and Jiya thinks her sisters need to watch more horror movies.
> 
> (Or the one where Iris wishes her father didn't engage in illegal acts and Lucy gets to knock Flynn to the ground)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Originally I had Jess and Amy working at a restaurant but decided to change it to them being social workers because honestly the idea of them helping people who are sometimes at their lowest appealed to me more.

“The doctor still hasn’t come out?”

Lucy sighed, letting her head fall into her hands. “No, not since the last time you asked, three minutes ago—would you stop pacing?”

Amy paused, coming to a stop and letting out a heavy sigh before sinking into one of the obnoxiously bright plastic hospital chairs. Jiya sat next to her, fiddling with the cuff of her sleeves and glancing up to look at the clock every few minutes.

It felt like it had been hours since they arrived at the hospital, though in reality, it was probably only a few minutes. Carol had been pushed through the two big doors and the nurse had told them to wait.

None of the Preston sisters were good at waiting.

“So, should we talk about what Mom told us?”

Jiya’s quiet question broke the awkward stalemate they were in as Lucy lifted her head and Amy shot her a disbelieving look. “Because I think I might just believe her.”

“Really, Jiya, now?” Amy hissed in a low voice, mindful of where they were. “You want to talk about this while Mom is in the hospital?”

“When else are we going to talk about it, Amy?” Jiya shot back and the two of them glared at each other before Lucy stepped in.

“You said you had a vision Jiya,” At Jiya’s nod Lucy continued, sucking in a deep breath. “I guess that must be what your power is, your visions.”

“And since Mom made the book fly into her hands, that’s probably another power,” Jiya added. “So, there’s only one power left accounted for.”

“I just can’t,” Amy cut herself off, staring at her hands. “How could she not tell us about this, these powers?”

“It’s not exactly something you bring up casually Amy,” Lucy tried to defend her mother, because that’s what she’s always done, but even at this moment she knew she couldn’t do it.

Amy opened her mouth to respond but stopped when she saw something over Lucy’s shoulder and quickly stood up. “Mark?”

Lucy and Jiya turned to see Amy’s boyfriend Mark talking at the receptionist desk along with—

“Rufus?”

Rufus turned, gently touching Mark on the shoulder to get his attention and the two of them hurried over to where Lucy, Amy and Jiya were.

“What are you doing here?” Amy asked, accepting the kiss on the cheek from Mark.

“Rufus called me, mentioned that Jiya had been acting weird,” Mark explained. “When we went to your house, one of your neighbours told us an ambulance had been called and we’ve been going to every hospital trying to find you.”

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Lucy replied, smiling despite the situation.

Rufus flushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “What happened, by the way, why was there an ambulance?”

Sharing a look with her sisters Jiya cleared her throat. “It’s Mom, she…she had an accident.”

Rufus’s eyes widened. “Oh god, is she ok?”

“The doctor hasn’t told us yet,” Lucy replied, glancing at the reception desk. “Not even the nurse has come out.”

“I’ll see if I can use my charm to get some information,” Mark said with a wink, causing Amy to giggle before he walked over to the reception desk.

“How are you guys, really?” Rufus looked at each sister. “I know Jiya told me you guys had a bit of an, uh, argument with your mother…”

“We’re as fine as we could be,” Lucy replied after she looked at Amy and Jiya. Her eyes widened as she stood up, seeing Mark coming back with a man with a white coat.

“My apologies for keeping you waiting, you are all here for Carol Preston, correct?”

“Yes, I’m Lucy and these are my sisters Amy and Jiya,” Lucy didn’t miss the expression on his face when he looked at Jiya, but he maintained a professional look.

“I’m Dr. Martin,” he introduced himself. “I’m going to be blunt: your mother’s case is one of the most unusual I’ve ever seen.”

“What do you mean by that?” Rufus asked, putting an arm around Jiya.

“Well, the x-rays showed that despite apparently falling down a flight of stairs, your mother suffered no injuries consistent with a fall: she doesn’t have a concussion nor any broken bones and even her spine is perfectly fine.”

“I’m sensing a but…” Amy shot the doctor a look.

Dr. Martin nodded. “But your mother isn’t waking up, despite not suffering a traumatic brain injury, she’s in a coma and I don’t know when, or even if, she’s going to wake up.”

“Is there nothing you can do?” Lucy asked in a soft voice, worry seeping into her tone.

“All we can do is wait.”

With that final statement, Dr. Martin shook their hands and left. Rufus looked at Jiya who was staring down at her hands. Lucy and Amy weren’t much better, identical looks of concern on their faces.

“Tell you guys what, I’m going to go get coffees since we’re probably going to be here a while,” Mark looked at Rufus. “You want to help?”

“Yeah, we’re probably going to need two hands,” He stood up, glancing at Jiya who managed a small smile and nodded.

“Let’s go to the coffee shop a few blocks away, I know from experience the coffee at hospitals suck…”

Mark’s voice became distant as he walked away with Rufus, leaving Lucy, Amy and Jiya to sit in silence before Jiya broke it.

“Am I the only one who thinks there might be a supernatural explanation for this?”

Amy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “No, and considering I didn’t even believe in the supernatural before this, I hate the fact I’m considering this.”

Lucy couldn’t help but think, _if only we had listened to Mom…_

* * *

Iris hummed softly to herself as she entered her dad’s office, school had finished early and she knew her dad would likely be here given he had an active case.

She was proven right when she saw Flynn staring at his laptop, and seeing he wasn’t even paying attention to her entering, she quietly snuck up behind him before startling him when she spoke:

“What are you doing?”

Flynn jumped, turning to look at her before sighing when he saw the smirk on her face. “Really Iris, I’m starting to regret teaching you that.”

Iris laughed before looking at the screen. She raised an eyebrow when she saw it was a college newspaper article about a professor who was currently in a coma.

“Why are you interested in Dr. Carol Preston?” She read off the screen, giving Flynn a curious look. “Is there something I need to know?”

“Very funny,” Flynn replied in a deadpan tone. “I don’t know, it’s just odd to me that this Dr. Preston is put into a coma on the same night a witch was murdered.”

“You think it might be the same guy,” Iris stated, leaning in to read the article more closely. She frowned. “It says here that Dr. Preston is in her late fifties and lives with her three daughters, most of the other victims were in their early twenties and lived alone.”

Flynn sighed, sounding slightly frustrated. “I know it’s a long shot, but it’s a coincidence that I can’t ignore.”

Iris nodded, stepping back as Flynn stood up, walking over to his gun safe and typing in the combination. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go pay Carol Preston a visit,” Flynn replied without turning, pulling out his gun and checking it.

“Dad, please tell me you’re not going to break into a hospital,”

“No, of course not,” Flynn gave his daughter a grin. “How could Dr. Kovac break into a hospital he works?”

Iris just let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head.

* * *

“Hey Amy, how’s your mother doing?”

Amy looked up with a smile to see Jessica Logan staring at her with a soft smile from her desk. The South Bay Social Services office was busy, with people answering their phones and rushing back and forth to the copier.

“As well as can be,” Carol had been moved to her own room, but still showed no signs of waking. “Lucy’s taking a few days off to stay with her.”

“You know, I can cover for you if you want Amy,” Jessica said with a frown. “Seriously, say the word and I’ll go yell at Frank to give you the time off.”

Amy couldn’t help but laugh at Jessica’s earnest expression, knowing very well that Jessica Logan would absolutely do that. “Thanks for the offer Jess, but Lucy can look after her.”

“Alright, but my offer is still on the table,” Jessica noted as her phone began buzzing. She cursed and grabbed her purse, digging it out before staring at it with an unreadable expression.

“What is it?” Amy asked, concern in her voice.

Jessica sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Oh it’s, uh, Wyatt asking how I am.”

“Ah.”

Amy’s tone was delicate, aware that the situation surrounding Jessica and her estranged husband was as fragile as the situation between her and her mother.

While she had no personal experience with such a thing, Amy could only imagine how being married to a Delta Force operator could be difficult, especially if that person decided to go into law enforcement afterwards.

“He’s just worried, you know,” Jessica absently waved her hands as she tossed her phone back. “With the women getting murdered and especially since I’m living alone now…”

She trailed off and Amy winched sympathetically, turning to her computer. “Well, at least he cares.”

Jessica laughed, the sound coming out harsh as she stood up. “Yes, at least there’s that.” She smiled. “I have to get some papers from the fax machine, mind lending me a hand?”

“Of course,”

The two of them stood up and headed into the backroom, Amy standing off to the side while Jess gathered her papers.

However, as Jessica turned, her foot hit the side of one of the tables and she let out a cry of surprise as she stumbled, the papers going flying when she began falling dangerously close to the end of one of the tables.

Her eyes wide Amy cried out, “Jess, look out,” and instinctively flicked her hands as if that would stop her. Which it did, quite literally, as Jessica and the papers seemed to freeze in place.

“Jess?” Amy walked over to wave her hand in front of her coworker’s face, getting no reaction. She then turned to stare at the papers, which remained perfectly still despite being in the air.

Still confused but not willing to waste time, Amy moved into action, quickly grabbing Jess’s shoulders and yanking her away from the table just as everything unfroze and the papers landed in a heap on the ground.

“Are you alright?” Amy asked, her heart still racing from what happened before while their boss Frank quickly ran into the room. People had started crowding outside, peering in.

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you,” Jessica whispered as Amy began picking up the scattered papers, handing them to her after helping her to her feet.

“What happened?” Frank looked around as if expecting for there to be a mess. “Are you girls ok?”

“Yes, we’re alright,” Jessica replied, frowning when she saw Amy rushing to her desk to grab her coat. “Amy, are you—?”

“Sorry Jess, Frank but I need to go call my sister,” Amy began digging her phone out of her bag. “Uh, family stuff.”

“Of course, go right ahead,” Frank waved his hand and Amy quickly headed for the door, her phone clutched in her hand.

* * *

Flynn was rather thankful that being dressed like a doctor meant no one gave him a second glance when he approached the reception desk, putting a smile on his face. “Hello, I’m Dr. Kovac, I’m looking for Carol Preston’s room?”

The receptionist frowned, peering at him. “I thought Dr. Martin was the doctor in charge of that case?”

“He is, but given the nature of the case, he asked if I could provide a consultation,” Leaning on the desk Flynn allowed his smile to widen. “Anything that could help the family.”

Nodding, the receptionist typed a few things on the computer before turning to him. “She’s in room 244, go that way and make a left.”

“Thank you,” he shot her another grin before heading in the direction she was pointing, keeping his head down as he made his way down the hallway, checking the numbers before he found the right one.

Hoping that none of Carol’s daughters were visiting he slowly opened the door and let out a sigh of relief when he saw the room was empty. He entered and shut the door behind him, walking over to her medical chart and picking it up.

A frown formed on his face as he read it, taking note of the fact that she didn’t seem to be suffering from any kind of traumatic brain injury that would lead to a coma.

But what was unusual in his mind was that there were also no signs she had been stabbed.

He put the medical chart back, slowly walking over to the bedside table where a fresh vase of flowers was placed. Assuming it was from one of her daughters, he reached in to pick up the card only to freeze when a rather annoyed voice cut in, “You don’t look like Dr. Martin.”

Cursing he turned to see a rather pretty brunette woman with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. He wracked his brain for a moment to figure out who she was. “You must be Amy—”

“Lucy,” Lucy corrected him, shooting him an unimpressed look. “I wasn’t aware my mother’s case had been transferred.”

“It hasn’t, I’m Dr. Kovac,” he held out his hand which Lucy only stared at. “I’m consulting at Dr. Martin’s request.”

“Dr. Martin never informed me he was doing such a thing, I would think he would have…” Lucy trailed off, her eyes widening when she stared at something and Flynn realized with a faint _oh crap_ that she had seen his gun.

She opened her mouth, likely to yell for help, and Flynn moved quickly to cover her mouth and press her against the wall. “Look, I’ll let you go if you promise not to scream—”

Lucy’s eyes flashed in defiance and the next thing Flynn knew he went flying away from her, landing in a heap on the ground. Slightly dazed he lifted his head to see Lucy staring at him in shock.

Well, Flynn thought dryly as he slowly got to his feet, this was an unexpected turn of events.

* * *

To say Lucy had been having a bad day would be an understatement: she found out she and her sisters were witches the night before, her mother had gotten attacked and now a strange doctor had snuck into her mother’s room and had pushed her against a wall.

It didn’t help that an annoying little voice pointed out that, despite him trying to silence her with his hand, he was rather attractive even as he loomed over her.

Anger bubbled up in her and she wanted oh so desperately for him to just _get the hell away from her_ and…he had, as was evidenced by him staring at her as he got to his feet almost lazily.

She certainly didn’t expect the next words that came out of his mouth:

“You’re a witch.”

It was said so simply, like it was a statement of fact and Lucy found herself panicking. “Don’t be ridiculous, I pushed you away because you decided to _assault me_ —”

“You’re what, five foot three?” The man drawled as he brushed himself off. “There’s no way you could have pushed me.”

“I’m five foot five,” Lucy was even more annoyed now. “And somehow me being a witch is more plausible than me just pushing you away?”

“You didn’t put your hands on my chest, believe me, I would have felt that,” and oh, that smirk was irritating even as a flash of heat went up her spine. “You simply glared at me and the next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor.”

“Impressive, really, did you inherit that from your mother?”

And the anger was back. “How dare you,” she hissed, and the vase of flowers went flying into the wall, shattering to the ground.

“Now that wasn’t nice,” The fact that this man could say that so calmly told Lucy all she needed to know. “Those were a nice set of flowers; I assume either you or your sisters brought it?”

“Stop talking about the flowers,” Lucy demanded and he raised his hands in surrender. “Why are you here? Is your name even Luka Kovac?”

“No,” he admitted. “I’m Garcia Flynn, a private investigator.”

That gave her pause. “Why is a private investigator posing as a doctor and sneaking into my mother’s room?”

Flynn—at least she had his real name—sighed, rubbing a hand down his jaw, which drew her attention to his stubble and she really, _really_ needed to stop thinking about how attractive that was. “I assume you’re aware of the women who have been killed in the last week?”

“Of course, they’ve been all over the news…” Realization struck her. “Are you implying my mother may have been attacked by the same person?”

“That was my theory, but no,” Flynn shook his head. “All of the victims were stabbed and your mother wasn’t, the stabbing is a rather important of the killing.”

“Why?”

She could see him hesitate before he opened his mouth, only to tense when there was a knocking at the door. “Excuse me, Dr. Preston? We heard a loud noise, is everything ok?”

And the thing was, Lucy could have said no. She could have informed them that there was a stranger in her mother’s room, she could end this conversation.

But she didn’t, because she needed answers and her mother couldn’t give them, so maybe Flynn could.

“Yes,” she kept her eyes on Flynn as she replied, “I’m sorry, I must have dropped something, I’m so clumsy, I’ll clean it up.”

“Ok, please call us if you need anything.”

There was the sound of footsteps walking away, getting softer and softer until eventually they were gone. Lucy turned back to Flynn, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression.

“Why is the stabbing so important?”

“Because that’s how the warlocks get powers,” He frowned when he saw the look on confusion on her face. “Warlocks, witches who turned evil by killing a fellow witch, didn’t your mother tell you?”

“No,” and Lucy was sure he could hear the bitterness in her tone. “So that’s why you think whoever killed those other witches didn’t attack my mother?”

“Putting her in a coma would have no real advantage to him, he’s been killing these witches to get their powers,” Flynn explained. “If he attacked your mother, she would be dead.”

A shiver went down her spine when he said that, but she appreciated the honesty. “So, then what did attack her?”

“That, I don’t know.”

Flynn glanced at his watch. “As fun as this was, I need to go now.”

He walked up to the door, which Lucy was standing in front of, and looked down at her with an amused raise of his eyebrow. Flushing, she stepped aside, watching him open the door and step out, only to pause when he looked back at her.

“One more question: does the name Rittenhouse mean anything to you?”

Lucy frowned, tilting her head. “No, should it?”

Flynn didn’t respond, just turned and disappeared down the hallway. Lucy stepped out to try and catch one last sign of him, but he had already vanished.

Putting a hand to her forehead Lucy glanced at the broken glass in the room before heading to the reception desk to ask for a broom.

* * *

“So, let me get this straight, a hot private investigator posed as a doctor to sneak into Mom’s room—”

“I never said he was hot,” Lucy protested, feeling her cheeks heat when Jiya shot her a look. “I never noticed anything like that, I was a bit too busy be annoyed with him.”

“Uh huh, ok,” Jiya turned to the Book of Shadows, flipping another page. “And he apparently was able to figure out that you were a witch, that Mom was likely a witch and knew that the women who have been killed were also witches attacked by a warlock?”

“Basically, yes,” Lucy slumped into a seat, letting out a loud groan as she dropped her head into her hands. “God, I have a headache.”

“There is a spell to ease that, you know,” Jiya tried to look innocent when Lucy lifted her head to glare at her. “Just saying.”

“I’ll take my chances with Advil,” Lucy remarked dryly before her gaze drifted down. “Did you find anything about warlocks or did the private investigator just lie to me?”

“I’m still looking—ah ha!” Jiya grinned triumphantly, pushing the book towards Lucy. “Found it.”

Lucy leaned in, reading aloud, “ _Warlocks are often witches who have broken the wiccan rede by killing another witch, though warlocks can also be born. Using an athame, they kill witches to steal their powers.”_

“So, I guess your private investigator wasn’t lying,” Jiya mused, ignoring the look Lucy was shooting her. “It looks like there’s a vanquishing potion we can make.”

“We really are witches…” Lucy stated quietly, causing Jiya to reach out and squeeze her hand.

“Speaking of that, have you figured out what your power is?”

Lucy nodded with a sigh, narrowing her eyes at the vase of flowers which slowly slid across the table to Jiya.

Jiya blinked. “Looks like you got Mom’s power, that means there’s still Amy’s power we don’t know.”

_“Speaking of Amy, we should probably call her, especially if she’s already figured out her power.”_

* * *

“Come on Jiya, pick up the damn phone,”

Amy cursed as she listened to Jiya’s voicemail pick up and yanked the phone away from her ear, glaring at it as if had morally offended her.

The sound of footsteps approaching her made her pause, her body tensing when a hand fell on her shoulder. Instinct took over as she whirled, closing her hand into a fist and ready to punch whatever assailant had decided to accost her—

—only to have her fist get stopped by a surprised Mark. “Woah there Amy, I guess this is a bad time?”

“Oh god, I’m sorry,” Amy immediately retracted her fist, putting her phone back in her bag as she reached up to give him a kiss. “No, no it’s a great time.”

Mark nodded, smiling at her. “How’s your mother? Any news?”

“No, no news yet,” Amy sighed. “What are you doing here, by the way?”

“Well, let’s see,” Mark wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “My girlfriend’s mother ended up in the hospital and despite the fact they don’t have the best relationship, I know she’s probably worried.”

“I didn’t realize you were a mind-reader,” Amy noted in a low voice as he pulled her in for another kiss.

“Then again,” she grinned as she pulled back. “That is something I find very attractive.”

Mark chuckled. “Anyways, can you get off work now?”

Amy frowned. “Maybe, why?”

“There’s something I need to show you…”

* * *

Flynn was pretty sure if his former partner Denise walked in right now, she would be horrified by the state of his desk.

Papers littered the top of it, some having been stacked half-heartedly before they just toppled over with sticky notes almost concealing the actual writing.

He sighed as he turned his attention back to the article written about the first killing, hoping there might be something that could help figure out who the hell was killing these witches before they got the chance to strike again.

His mind, against his will, wandered to Lucy Preston and her sisters. Even though he honestly believed their mother hadn’t been attacked by the same person behind these killings, that didn’t mean they couldn’t be a possible target.

And there was something about Lucy that kept probing his mind, something that Lorena had told him?

“Wait a minute…” Flynn muttered as something in the photo of the article caught his attention, leaning in to get a better look.

There, in the crowd of onlookers, was the same reporter who had spoken to him when he went to investigate the crime scene.

Quickly flicking through the other articles, he found the same reporter in each of the photos. He leaned back, it could be a coincidence, but in his experience, there was no such thing as coincidences.

He typed in the name _Mark King_ and found the man’s social media accounts. Clicking on it he began scrolling through and froze when he saw a picture of Mark with his arm wrapped around a brunette woman, but what made him freeze was the fact that _Lucy_ was sitting next to them.

His gaze quickly wandered over the caption and he swallowed as he read it: _Celebrating my girl’s birthday, congratulations Amy!_

_Amy_ , that was the name of one of Lucy’s sisters. Grabbing his coat Flynn made sure he had his gun before flinging the door open, nearly startling Iris who shot up.

“Dad?”

Flynn pulled her into an apologetic hug before pulling back, looking her in the eyes. “Sorry Iris, but I need you to do me a favor: can you scry for me?”

* * *

“Still no word from Amy?”

Lucy asked, narrowing her eyes as she began searching through the cabinets trying to find the herbs needed for the vanquishing potion.

Jiya shook her head, sticking her tongue out slightly as she flipped through the book. “No, not since I checked last—hey, there’s a spell for good luck in here!”

“Focus, Jiya,” Lucy turned, her arms filled with various jars. “There’s a warlock running around killing witches and we might be the next target.”

Lucy couldn’t help but worry about Amy, because she was out there vulnerable and while she had some kind of power, she was new to it like Jiya and Lucy were.

“By the way, I think I know what Amy’s power is,” Lucy looked at Jiya with a raised eyebrow, gesturing at her to continue.

“So, we know what Mom said, we are the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches the world has ever known and so on,” Jiya made a gesture with her hand. “One sister would have the power to move things with her mind—that would be you—another could see the future, which is me, and the final sister could stop time.”

“So, Amy can stop time?” Lucy asked, her shoulders slumping in relief when Jiya nodded. “Well, at least she’ll hopefully be able to stop the killer before he attacks her.”

Jiya made a noise of agreement, lifting her head to look at the vase of flowers, which had been moved into the kitchen. “Probably not the right time to think about this, but Mark really does have good taste in flowers.”

She heard Lucy let out a laugh as she reached out to touch one of the leaves, only to jolt as she was thrust into another vision:

_Mark stood before Amy in what looked like a warehouse with a knife in his hand, he raised his arm and Amy, with a look of fear on her face, instinctively raised her hands to defend herself._

“Jiya?”

Lucy’s worried voice broke though Jiya’s trance and she gasped, quickly standing up as she turned to Lucy. “It’s Mark, Mark is the killer!”

“What?”

Lucy hurried to follow Jiya as she ran out of the kitchen, grabbing her phone and typing in Amy’s number. “I had a vision; Amy was with Mark; he had a knife and was about to stab her.”

“An athame,” Lucy flushed when Jiya looked at her. “It would be an athame, it’s what warlocks use to steal the powers of a witch.”

“Ok, back to our sister’s boyfriend trying to kill her—god damn it Amy,” Jiya cursed when she got her voicemail. “Amy isn’t answering.”

Lucy quickly dug her phone out of her pocket, her eyes widening when she saw she had a text from Amy. “Apparently Mark’s taking her to a warehouse.”

“Really Amy, ok you two are watching a dozen horror movies with me when this is over,” Jiya declared before opening up her laptop. “I don’t suppose it says _which_ warehouse he’s taking her to since, you know, there are only about a _thousand_ warehouses in the San Francisco area.”

Seeing Lucy shake her head Jiya sighed, a determined expression on her face before she began typing. She didn’t speak, just kept her gaze on the screen as Lucy wandered over with a curious expression.

Eventually she let out a loud _whoop_ , throwing her arms in the air. “Alright, I got the general location and using my vision I should be able to find her.”

“Then let’s go,” Lucy grabbed her coat and purse and followed Jiya as they hurried out of the house.

“Out of curiosity, Jiya, was what you did legal?”

“Probably not, but if it saves Amy from being murdered than I don’t care,” Jiya replied as she got into the passenger seat and Lucy found she didn’t have a response to that.

* * *

“Ok, we _really_ need to work on your date ideas,” Amy joked as she reluctantly followed Mark into the old and dusty warehouse. Glancing a critical eye over the desolate building, Amy thought that maybe she _wasn’t_ joking.

“Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” Mark asked with that charming grin that always made Amy melt. “Just a little further.”

“And why exactly are we here, again?”

“Because,” Mark continued to grin. “I have to give you your surprise.”

“And what surprise is that?” Amy purred with a smile, only for the smile to fall when he pulled out a knife.

“This, of course,” He tried to step forward only for Amy to kick him in the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards.

“What the hell are you doing?” Amy demanded, quickly moving farther away from him even as he got up with a groan. “Mark, what’s going on?”

“Do you know how long I’ve waited for you three to receive your powers?” Mark growled, a darkness entering his eyes. “Six months, but I knew eventually your mother would unbind them.”

“Did you attack her?” Amy’s anger began to rise. “Did you attack my mother?”

Mark laughed; a dark sound that made Amy’s spine stiffen. “No, I would be a fool to attack Carol Preston.”

“What about those women?” A sickening realization crept over Amy. “Did you kill them?”

“Of course, it was the only way to gain their powers after all,” Mark admitted casually, holding up his hand as flames shot out of his fingertips. “And now, dear sweet Amy, I need yours.”

He raised the hand holding the knife above his head, ready to plunge into her chest.

Amy screamed and threw her hands up in front of her and right before the knife hit her he froze. She stood there in shock for a moment before she heard two familiar voices screaming her name:

“Amy!”

“Amy!”

“Jiya, Lucy?” Amy turned to see her sisters running towards her, looking as panicked as she must be. Quickly she ran towards them, wrapping her arms around them.

“Oh, thank God you found me, Mark just tried to kill me,” Amy frowned. “Wait, how did you find me?”

“Jiya had a vision and then she did a thing that might not be legal,” Lucy replied. “Mark is a warlock, an evil witch that needs to kill other witches to gain their powers.”

“That explains a lot, but how do you know that?” Amy raised an eyebrow at the flush that appeared on Lucy’s cheeks.

“Lucy may or may not have had a run in with a hot guy who told her,” Jiya explained, ignoring the look Lucy shot her.

“Wait, what hot guy?”

“Guys, I think we have a bigger issue,” Lucy’s voice became panicked as she pointed and they whirled to see Mark unfreeze, stumbling slightly as his knife hit thin air.

He looked up and a twisted smile appeared on his face when he laid eyes on the three terrified women. “Looks like I’ll be getting three powers for the price of one.”

“Yeah, not happening,” Lucy snapped as she narrowed her eyes, hoping to send him flying like she had Flynn.

Unfortunately, he only got pushed backwards slightly, his feet sliding across the floor. Mark laughed, shaking his head.

“And these are supposed to be the protectors of the innocent, the most powerful witches,” Mark narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to enjoy this…”

“Get down!”

Lucy’s eyes widened when she heard Flynn’s voice but she and her sisters quickly ducked down as a gunshot rang through the air, Mark falling backwards with a hole in his forehead.

“Flynn, what are you doing here?” Lucy demanded as she twisted, seeing Flynn hurrying towards them with his gun at his side. “How did you even find us?”

“He’s the hot guy Lucy ran into, I’m assuming?” Amy whispered to Jiya, who nodded. “He’s not horrible on the eyes, in fact he’s quite the opposite…”

“That’s not important,” Flynn stated, gesturing with his head at Mark. “What _is_ important is that you vanquish him.”

Whirling around Lucy paled when she saw Mark slowly getting up, the bullet hole in his head—which _should_ have killed him—slowly closing.

“Garcia Flynn,” Mark drawled as he stared at the man with a dark look in his eyes. “I didn’t know this was where you were.”

“You two know each other?”

Flynn was saved from replying to Lucy’s question when Mark cut in with a twisted laugh. “Oh, everyone in my circle knows who Garcia Flynn is, a pain in the ass mortal who somehow has been causing problems.”

“Why do I get the feeling I really don’t want to meet the people in his circle?”

Despite the horrible situation Lucy couldn’t help but laugh out a broken laugh at Amy’s dry question, though the laugh quickly died when a circle of fire suddenly surrounded her and her sisters, cutting them off from Flynn who cursed as he quickly jumped back to avoid the fire.

“Come on, guys, we’ll face him together,” Lucy tried to encourage her sisters, grasping Amy’s hand in one and taking Jiya’s in her other. A lightbulb went on. “The spirit board, remember the inscription on the spirit board?”

“The power of three will set us free,” Lucy yelled, squeezing Amy and Jiya’s hands. “Come on, we need to say it together.”

“The power of three will set us free,” They began chanting as they fixed Mark with determined expressions. “The power of three will set us free!”

They continued to chant as the circle of fire turned into a strong gust of wind, Flynn having to hold up his hand to cover his face as Mark growled in anger.

“You really think you can stop us? I’m not the only one,” Mark turned to Flynn. “Isn’t that right Flynn, you know of the dangers, remember what happened to Lorena?”

Not stopping her chanting Lucy turned her head and shivered when she saw the look of pure hatred Flynn shot Mark as he intoned darkly. “I think your time has just run out.”

“You will never be free of danger, we are all around, you cannot stop us!”

Mark’s exclamation turned into a scream as he blew up while the sisters chanted one last time.

Silence fell over the group as they stared at the spot where Mark once stood, the sisters breathing heavily while Flynn let out a low chuckle. He shifted to stare at the sisters with a look of awe. “I don’t believe it, you’re the Charmed Ones.”

Lucy met his gaze and felt herself heat at the look in his eyes before she turned to look at her sisters, a smile stretching across her face. “We are, the Power of Three.”

Amy was the first to let out a giggle, followed shortly by Jiya and Lucy as they wrapped their arms around each other. The tension of the fight had faded and now they relaxed while Flynn watched them with an amused expression.

* * *

A heavy sigh escaped Amy as she slumped into her seat, resting her head on the dining room table while Lucy and Jiya joined her on each side. “God, do you think I could call in to work by saying I just had to vanquish my boyfriend?”

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to work,” Lucy remarked dryly as she reached out to squeeze her sister’s shoulder. “Nothing is going to be normal now.”

Amy lifted her head to look at the serious expression on her face. “Well, at least it won’t be boring.”

“But it won’t be the same,” Jiya added, a frown forming on her face. “So, what do we do?”

“We may have vanquished Mark,” Lucy winced sympathetically at the look on Amy’s face. “But he claimed he didn’t attack Mom, and I have no reason not to believe him, so whoever did is still out there.”

“Which means,” she fixed Amy and Jiya with a look. “That we need to be careful, we need to be wise and we need to stick together.”

“Well, this should be interesting,” Jiya remarked dryly.

“It might not be a bad idea for you two to take up self-defense with me,” Amy noted. “Especially you Jiya.”

Jiya nodded in understanding while Lucy groaned. “You do remember that I’m a natural klutz, right? Asking me to do that will make me more of a danger to myself than others.”

“Come on, it can be a fun sisterly bonding experience,” Amy grinned and Lucy sighed.

“But we can’t just rely on that, we need to know not only how to use our powers, but magic in general,” Lucy looked from Amy to Jiya. “If we’re going to do this, we need to do it right.”

“Well, as Jiya said,” Amy couldn’t help but smirk. “This will be interesting.”

“At least you and Lucy have an active power, it looks like I’ll be looking at the Book of Shadows more often than not…”

“But you have visions, oh, do you think you could see if I get a promotion anytime soon…”

“Really Amy, that’s the first thing you think of—?”

Lucy left her sisters to their bickering, quietly heading to the front door and grabbing her coat before stepping aside. It irritated her that a smile curved her lips when she saw Flynn leaning on his car, hands in his pockets and somehow managing to look completely at ease.

“I wondered if you were still here,” Lucy called out, causing him to turn and raise an eyebrow at her. “Do you not have another hospital to sneak into?”

His mouth twisted and Lucy tried not to react to the way his green eyes twinkled. “Sadly no, my schedule is pretty much open right now.”

Lucy nodded as she came to a stop a few feet away from him, opening her mouth and then closing it a few times before she spoke. “How do you know, about all this?”

She waved her hand absently around her. “Mark—the warlock seemed to know you.”

Flynn sighed, pushing himself off of his car as he smiled humorlessly. “It would appear I have more of a reputation than I thought.”

“Was it Lorena, did she tell you about this?” Lucy tried not to flinch when his smile became cold.

“Yes, she did tell me about magic, because she was a part of it,” He looked away from her, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. “She was a witch, not as powerful as you or your sisters, but powerful enough to be a threat.”

“Was she…?” Lucy trailed off, not wanting to poke at something she had no business poking at. “I’m sorry, that’s intrusive of me, I shouldn’t…”

“No, you shouldn’t,” Flynn agreed in a tone that wasn’t quite cold but wasn’t exactly warm either.

An awkward silence fell over them before Flynn broke it with a cough, his tone hoarse as he said, “What Mark said was true, you and your sisters…there’s been stories about the Charmed Ones for centuries now, Lorena used to tell me them.”

“Now that you’re here, you’re going to face a lot more dangers than just a single warlock, some of the dangers may come from things you don’t expect.”

Lucy had already realized this, that this new life meant constant threat for her and her sisters, but hearing Flynn lay it out so definitely just reinforced it. “Well, they better be prepared, because we’re not going down without a fight.”

Flynn chuckled, ducking his head slightly before meeting her gaze with an amused glint. “You’re really something else, Dr. Preston.”

“Lucy,” Lucy flushed when he raised an eyebrow. “You shot my sister’s warlock boyfriend; I think we can be on a first name basis.”

“Very well, Lucy,” Flynn replied, his pronunciation of her name making her flush even more and she really didn’t know how to feel about it. “I have to get back to my office, but take this.”

He handed her a business card, watching her flip it over in her hands with a curious expression. “If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”

With that final remark, he got into his car and left, leaving Lucy staring at his card. She heard the front door open and twisted to see Amy and Jiya step out, Amy having a particularly devious grin on her face.

“Was that your mysterious private investigator?” Amy asked as Lucy walked up to them, her eyebrows raised when she saw the card in her hands. “Did he give you his number?”

“His _work_ number, for professional reasons,” Lucy sternly glared at Amy. “He knows a bit more about this than we do, it might be a beneficial relationship.”

“Oh, I can think of how the relationship might have benefits—ow!”

Amy glared as Lucy smacked her on the shoulder while Jiya laughed, reaching out to loop Amy’s arm through her own and drag her through the door.

Lucy followed them into the house, turning to close the door but allowed herself to smile mischievously as she squinted, the door slowly swinging shut behind them.

* * *

In a quiet hospital room, Carol Preston lay in her bed, unaware of the world around her as her eyes remained closed.

A figure approached the bed, placing another vase of flowers beside the bed. “It would seem my last gift got broken, probably because of Lucy, she always did take after her mother.”

The figure slowly turned, leaning down to press a kiss to Carol’s forehead. “Don’t worry Carol, this will all be over soon.”

Footsteps coming closer made the figure look up and he vanished in the blink of an eye just as the door opened and a nurse walked into the room, walking over to check on Carol’s vitals.

The nurse glanced at the flowers and smiled. “You are a lucky woman, Dr. Preston, to have someone who cares so much about you.”


	3. Drowning in the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Preston sisters are adjusting to their new lives as witches, but the calm is about to be shattered by deaths at Jiya's university. Now with the help of Flynn and his daughter Iris the Charmed Ones have to right the wrongs committed twenty years earlier before more innocents are lost. Oh, and also there's some guy called Dr. Cahill visiting their mother and he's probably not a good guy?
> 
> In which Logan is probably going to end up strangling Flynn at some point, Jiya and Rufus are about as hopeless as Lucy and Flynn and Amy should really take a break from dating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait but as you can see *stares at the behemoth that is this chapter* at 11.6K words it took a really long time for me to write. My other chapters probably won't be this long, there was just a lot of information I needed to include in here. 
> 
> In any case, I hope you enjoy it!

“Ok,” Lucy huffed as she came to a stop, bending down and resting her hands on her knees while Amy and Jiya jogged up next to her. “Remind me why we’re doing this again? I highly doubt being able to run a marathon is going to help us take down a warlock.”

“No,” Amy agreed as she took a sip out of her water bottle, brushing the sweat off of her forehead. “But it will keep you fit, which is very important when it comes to self-defence.”

“I don’t see why you’re complaining, Luce,” Jiya raised an eyebrow as she took a seat on the front steps. “Unlike me, you can at least throw someone into a wall if they try to attack you.”

“Alright, point taken,” Lucy sighed, wincing as her muscles began aching in places she didn’t know could ache. “Doesn’t mean I like the way it feels like I could drop any minute.”

“Considering we still don’t know who attacked Mom,” Amy pointed out darkly, causing the air to become tense. “I’d rather not take any chances.”

“Well, on _that_ cheery note,” Jiya noted dryly as she checked her watch, frowning. “I’m going to go take a shower and get dressed because I have a study group session, and I can’t miss this one.”

Amy winced. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

Jiya waved off the apology. “Amy, it’s not your fault you got targeted by a youth-sucking demon,”

“Still…” Amy smiled when Jiya pulled her in for a hug before wrinkling her nose. “Ok, you do need to shower because you _smell._ ”

“Thanks, sis, really feeling the love,” Jiya narrowed her eyes mockingly before she sniffed her shirt and scowled. “Though you do have a point, so I’m going to go do that now.”

With a final wave, she headed into the house, leaving Amy to take her spot on the front steps while Lucy sat next to her. Amy looked at her, humming softly as she nudged her shoulder. “Have you spoken to Flynn lately?”

Lucy frowned, casting her a curious look. “No, why?”

“Just wondering if maybe that Rittenhouse thing he talked about might be connected to Mom’s attack…”

Amy trailed off, the two sisters sitting in silence and staring up at the sky before Lucy broke it with a sigh. “I could call him, I guess, see what he knows.”

“It’s only a theory, but it might be one to consider” Amy turned her head as the door opened to reveal Jiya, with wet hair pulled up in a bun and changed out of her workout clothes, who quickly ran past her sisters who moved aside to let her through.

“Remember to call if you’re going to be late!” Lucy called out, feeling slightly pleased when Jiya waved over her shoulder before getting into the car she and Amy shared.

“Even if he doesn’t know anything, you should still give him a call,” Amy looked back at her, a mischievous smirk curving her lips. “He’s a decent guy, who helped us out and he’s also easy on the eyes—”

“Amy, we have enough stuff to deal with right now,” Lucy stood up, brushing the dirt off her pants. “Besides, considering what happened the last time one of us dated, I think we could all use a break from relationships.”

_“At least you know Flynn isn’t a warlock or a youth-sucking demon!”_

Amy heard Lucy let out a soft chuckle as the door slammed behind her.

* * *

“Man, remind me again why I chose to go into computer science?”

Jiya lifted her head to look at the frustrated man beside her, her lips turning up in a smirk. “Because you didn’t want to follow in your father’s footsteps and become a doctor?”

Rufus snorted, though he quickly covered it with a cough when a glare was turned onto him. “Hey Jiya, can I have your help with this question?”

“Sure,” Jiya turned to him, accidentally brushing against his shoulder and causing them to freeze as they stared at each other.

Heat flooded Jiya’s cheeks, and Rufus flushed as well before Jiya redirected her attention to Rufus’s notebook. If Amy were here, she thought dryly, she would be teasing Jiya _relentlessly_.

A loud groan made her look up just as Quinn—the frustrated man from before—tossed his pencil on the table and leaned back in his chair, running his hands down his face. “I’m done, that’s it, I’m switching majors.”

“You said that last semester too,” Jiya noted dryly, stretching her arms above her head. “And yet, you’re still stuck with us.”

“Kyle, just stop it!”

The loud exclamation made the trio turn, and Jiya frowned when she saw a young brunette storming away from a tall, muscled blonde. Jiya narrowed her eyes when she saw the blonde grab her, and she stood up, determinedly walking over.

“Hey, she told you to stop it,” Jiya called out, causing the two to turn to her. The blonde didn’t look particularly happy and ran his eyes over her dismissively.

“This isn’t any of your business, go away,” he replied stiffly, tightening his grip on the brunette who winced.

“Actually, it _is_ our business Kyle,” Quinn noted darkly as he came to stand beside Jiya, Rufus, on the other side. “This is a public place, even if your father donated a lot of money to it.”

“Quinn…” The brunette whispered a look in her eyes Jiya couldn’t read.

Kyle’s jaw twitched, glancing at the brunette. “Figures, didn’t take long for your white knight to come rushing in, did it, Lydia?”

Lydia managed to get her arm out of his grip, cradling it to her chest as she stepped back. Quinn stepped in front of her and glared at Kyle. “Leave _now_.”

“Unless you want campus security to get involved,” Rufus added, narrowing his eyes at Kyle, who scoffed.

“Whatever,” he stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking away with a dark cloud hanging over his head.

Jiya waited until he was gone before turning to Quinn, who was still staring after him. “Who was that lovely gentleman?”

“Kyle Cabot,” Quinn pinched the bridge of his nose. “His father is a wealthy businessman who went to this university, he and my father were friends, as was Lydia’s mother, so I, unfortunately, grew up with him.”

“Thanks for the help,” Lydia stated quietly, deliberately not meeting Quinn’s gaze. “But I need to get to class.”

“Lydia—”

Quinn began, only to stop when Lydia quickly hurried away, only briefly glancing back at him over her shoulder. Jiya and Rufus stood there awkwardly for a few minutes before Rufus cleared his throat and asked, “So, I’m assuming you and Lydia have a history…?”

Turning his head, Quinn glared at him. “Don’t, Rufus, unless you want me to bring up—"

“I really need to finish working on that problem,” Rufus cut him off, quickly walking back to the table while Jiya stared at him with a confused expression.

Shaking her head, she took a step forward only to freeze as a loud scream pierced the air and startled everyone in the library, who began whispering.

“What the hell was that?”

Rufus demanded, sharing a look with Jiya before the two of them ran towards the library doors. Pushing the doors open, they ran out into the courtyard only to come to a hard stop when they saw a crowd of students gathered around something.

Jiya took a step closer to get a better look, only for her eyes to widen when she saw Kyle Cabot lying on the grass, his skin had turned completely gray.

“Oh god…” She turned to see Rufus staring in horror, covering his mouth as someone else screamed again.

“Someone call the police!”

Jiya called out, grimacing as she walked over, carefully keeping a wide berth from the body. However, a frown formed on her face when she noticed something… “His hair, it’s wet.”

“What?” Jiya forced herself not to jump when Rufus whispered from behind her. “It’s not even raining.”

Jiya didn’t reply, staring at the body and noticing everything in a new light: the color of his skin, the way the grass seemed slightly damp…

“It’s as if he drowned.”

“On dry land?” Rufus sounded skeptical. “How does someone drown on dry land?”

“Good question,” Jiya muttered to herself as campus security pushed past her, her gaze still fixed on Kyle Cabot.

Suddenly something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, she turned to see a woman with long dark hair staring at her, her eyes dark with anger as she stared at Kyle Cabot’s body. The clothing she wore was old, like she had been wearing it for the past few decades or so, with a visible mole on the side of her neck.

Jiya frowned and stepped forward, but as quickly as a whisper, the woman was gone.

* * *

“Hey, Mom,”

Amy said quietly, twisting her hands nervously as she stared at Carol from her spot sitting next to her bed. The only sound in the room was the _beep_ of the heart monitor.

“So, we had to vanquish my boyfriend,” Amy let out a soft chuckle. “I can’t imagine you would be upset about that, considering how much you hated him—”

She cut herself off, letting out a huff as she quickly stood up, crossing her arms over her chest and deliberately turning away from her mother. Amy had walked into this room, with the hope her anger towards her mother would be gone.

Evidently, that had been naïve of her.

Dropping her hands to her hips, Amy whirled around to glare at her mother. “You know, Lucy has done _everything_ you asked of her,”

“She took part in the activities you wanted her in, she majored in what you wanted, hell she’s even been fighting for tenure at a school that, quite frankly, doesn’t even deserve her because it’s _your_ school,”

Her chest heaving Amy found once she started speaking, she couldn’t stop, “And don’t even get me started on what you’ve put Jiya and me through, the nuisance and the forgotten child.”

“And yet, that still isn’t enough, because now you’ve thrust this—this _legacy_ on us that puts us in danger, that unleashed all kinds of evil, and now we’re left trying to stay _alive_.”

Amy’s tone went up an octave on the last word as if trying to sear that word into her mother’s mind, even though she knew she might not be able to hear her. “So, thanks a lot, Mom, thanks so _fucking_ much.”

The fight went out of her as her shoulders slumped, staring at the heart monitor and listening to it. Her gaze fell on the other bedside table, and she frowned when she saw the vase of flowers—she recalled Lucy mentioning there had been one that ended up broken—so apparently it got replaced.

Walking around the bed, she peered at the flowers before picking up the card included and opening it.

_“From Dr. Benjamin Cahill, get better soon…_ ” She read quietly, staring at it for a few minutes before setting it down and exiting the room.

“Excuse me?” She called out as she walked up to the reception desk, getting the attention of a nurse. “I’m Amy Preston, Carol Preston is my mother, and I was wondering about a flower delivery she had gotten from a Dr. Cahill?”

“Ah, yes,” the nurse smiled as she typed something on her computer. “She’s gotten two deliveries from him, lovely man, he really cares about her.”

Amy opened her mouth to respond when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a news channel on the TV. Turning her head, her eyes widened when she realized they were talking about Jiya’s university and quickly walked forward to listen carefully.

_Accident on campus…mysterious death…the student was perfectly healthy…_

_Shit,_ Amy silently swore as she rushed back into her mother’s room to grab her coat and bag, sparing one last glance for the vase of flowers before hurrying to a spot where she could get reception.

* * *

“This…This is a new level of wrong for you, Lucy,”

Lucy muttered to herself, nervously biting her lower lip as she stared at the screen in front of her. Her hands hovered awkwardly above the enter key, as the words _Garcia Flynn_ stared back at her from the screen as if taunting her.

She could be grading papers or doing research, but _no_ , she was basically stalking Flynn. If Amy were here, she’d be laughing her head off.

Running a hand through her hair, Lucy let out a low groan before firmly slamming her hands down on her desk. “Ok, let’s think about this logically: he helped us out with Mark, but he also apparently researched both Mom and us before sneaking into her hotel room, maybe this is par for the course?”

Before she could second guess herself, she quickly hit enter, watching as a page of search results appeared on the screen. Taking another deep breath, she began scrolling down, her gaze scanning over the results.

She managed to find a website for his private investigation firm, which talked about his past military experience as well as his previous careers as an NSA asset who ran his own private security firm and an eventual NSA agent.

_He’s literally James Bond…_

Lucy thought to herself, clicking out of the website and going back to the search results, freezing when she moved her cursor over to what looked like an article. The title made her stomach drop: _Wife and mother found dead_

Clicking on the article, her heart sunk as she read it aloud in a quiet voice, _“Wife and mother Lorena Flynn was found dead after the house she shared with her husband Garcia and five-year-old daughter Iris was set on fire, the daughter was thankfully rescued by her father, it’s believed to be a homicide…”_

She sat back in her chair, trying to process that information. Lorena, the witch who introduced Flynn to magic, was his wife, and she was murdered, likely by someone similar to Mark.

And, god, her _daughter_ was in the house, had she witnessed her mother’s murder? Lucy’s heart hurt for the little five-year-old girl who lost her mother, Carol wasn’t perfect by any means, but even now with her in a coma, Lucy still couldn’t imagine losing her.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Lucy twisted her head to look at an old paperweight, one of her colleagues had bought for her. Squinting at it, she watched it slide across her desk, and a low chuckle made her jump, freezing in terror until she heard the amused tone:

“You know, you shouldn’t be using your powers if your door isn’t even locked,”

Now feeling panicked for a different reason, Lucy stared at Flynn, leaning against the doorway to her office with a very confident smirk on his face. It didn’t look like he had changed much—though it _had_ only been a week since they last spoke—her gaze was drawn to his hand, where she noticed a silver band on his right finger.

“Flynn,” Lucy breathed, quickly redirecting her gaze to his face as he stepped forward, shutting the door behind him before putting his hands in his pocket. “What—what are you doing here?”

“I was in the neighbourhood, thought I would stop by,” He walked over to the chairs in front of her desk, casually plopping down in one and folding his hands in his lap. “How are you? I haven’t heard from you in a while, good work stopping whatever was taking those women, by the way,”

Lucy opened her mouth to respond, a snarky response bubbling up when the next words out of his mouth made her heart drop: “How’s Jiya, what happened at her school must have been terrifying—”

“What happened with Jiya?” Lucy demanded, and she could see genuine surprise cross Flynn’s face as he stood up.

“You don’t know,” he stated quietly, and oh, that sympathetic look in his eyes made her irritated. “I’m sorry, I thought you—”

“Don’t play games with me, Flynn,” Lucy’s tone was low and warning as she stepped forward, staring up at him coldly as her power responded to her anger, causing objects in the room to shake. _“_ What. happened?”

“There was a death on the campus,” Flynn’s tone was soft, almost gentle as he stared at her intently. “I saw Jiya in the background of the news report, that’s all I know.”

“Did she seem ok?” All the anger went out of Lucy, her shoulders slumping as her body began shaking. “Jiya, was she scared or…?”

“She seemed shaken, but that’s to be expected. Otherwise, she appeared ok,”

There was a beat of silence before Flynn slowly raised his hands, reaching out as if to touch her only to pause and pull them back, perhaps realizing—given that they were still practically strangers—that wasn’t the best course of action. 

“I assume it’s supernatural?” Lucy questioned. “If you’re looking into it, I mean…”

“Given what happened, I shouldn’t be surprised that’s your impression of me, but,” his mouth tilted up slightly. “Not all of my cases involve the supernatural, I _do_ still have bills to pay.”

“But in this case,” he sighed in agreement. “I do suspect a supernatural cause.”

“Rittenhouse?” Lucy suggested, only to immediately regret it when Flynn’s eyes became dark as he stared at her. “You asked me about Rittenhouse, in my mom’s hospital room, did they have something to do with your wife’s death…?”

She trailed off, shutting her eyes as she put her foot even further into her mouth. Opening her eyes, her body stiffened at the tension rolling off Flynn’s body as he asked in a quiet, deadly tone, “I don’t recall telling you about my wife.”

“Lorena,” Lucy whispered, seeing an emotion flash in his eyes. “I…there was an article, online, about her…”

“You looked me up.”

“You looked my family and me up,” Lucy shot back, though there wasn’t any heat in it. “It was—I only briefly skimmed the article.”

A silence fell over them, something cold piercing the air between them as Flynn’s jaw twitched. His solemn tone surprised her, “Lorena was a witch, she had the power to manipulate fire, a surprise to the people who found out about it because she wasn’t known for being short-tempered.”

“I found out by accident, we had been dating for a short while, and I accidentally walked in on her vanquishing a warlock,” he let out a soft chuckle, his tone becoming wistful. “It took me by surprise, but I never once thought about leaving her.”

“Long story short,” Flynn cleared his throat. “I told her that I didn’t want to be kept in the dark, that I wanted to help her any way I could and, well, I think you know the rest.”

Lucy nodded, unable to speak at that moment. A knock at the door startled them, but before Lucy could call out to whoever was on the other side, the door opened, and Iris walked in.

“Iris, I thought I told you to wait in the car,” There was frustration laced with affection in Flynn’s tone, in a way that made Lucy’s mouth turn up in a smile.

“Well, you were taking too long,” Iris turned to Lucy, her eyes widening before she looked at her father. “This is…”

Flynn chuckled, wrapping an arm around Iris’s waist and pulling her closer to him. He shot Lucy a soft smile that made something in her tingle. “Lucy, this is my daughter Iris,”

He smirked at her as if to say, _but you already knew that_ and Lucy flushed while Flynn looked at his daughter. “Iris, meet Dr. Lucy Preston.”

Lucy held out her hand, which Iris took eagerly, shaking it enthusiastically. “It’s so nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you—well, not you specifically,” Iris corrected when she saw Lucy shooting Flynn a look. “But my mother used to read me stories about the Charmed Ones.”

Nodding Lucy shot Flynn a look, who just smirked in response. “I’ve been told about the stories,”

Iris nodded, bouncing slightly in place. “Well, they were more like myths really; it was said that they were these uber-powerful witches who would vanquish any evil that threatened good.”

_Gee, no pressure_

Lucy thought dryly, though she couldn’t help but smile at the rather energetic girl. She wasn’t sure what she expected Flynn’s daughter to look like—maybe wearing combat boots—but she could honestly say this adorable girl was a surprise.

“Dad especially liked hearing the stories,” Iris continued, not seeing her father’s face turn red as his smirk faltered. “He would always listen in when Mom was telling them—”

“Iris,” Flynn hissed, though he wasn’t angry, just trying desperately to _not_ look like a complete idiot.

“Huh,” Lucy mused, her mouth curving up in a smile and Flynn just stared back at her, his pink cheeks reducing the whole _dangerous former government operative_ vibe he had going on.

“Anyway,” Iris changed the subject casually as if she hadn’t just embarrassed her father. “If we’re going to head to the university, we should probably go now.”

“Wait, you’re heading to the university?” Lucy repeated, and Flynn managed to lose some of the color in his cheeks as he turned to her.

“Yes, I was going to go determine if this…” He trailed off, shooting Iris an awkward look while she rolled her eyes at him as if to say _I don’t need you to sugar-coat this, Dad, I know about death_. “If this death was, in fact, supernatural, and, well, considering your sister is already there...”

Lucy couldn’t help but smirk, crossing her arms over her chest as Flynn rubbed the back of his neck. “Flynn, are you asking me if I want to go investigate this death with you?”

“You _are_ a Charmed One, it’s kind of part of your job,” The Flynn she was used to was back, snarking at her with a smirk on his face. “So, what do you say?”

He held out his hand, and Lucy stared at it for a few minutes before grasping it firmly and shaking. “Give me a minute to get ready.”

Flynn nodded, putting his hand on Iris’s back as he led her out of the office. Lucy took a deep breath before quickly shutting her laptop off and packing it away, opening the door to meet up with Flynn and Iris.

* * *

“You spoke with the victim before he died, correct Miss Preston?”

Jiya resisted the urge to roll her eyes, having already told the detective—an Inspector Logan if she remembered correctly—that she had at least five times. “I believe I’ve already told you that, Inspector.”

A flash of annoyance crossed Logan’s face before he cleared his throat. “I know, Miss Preston, but I need to know exactly what the victim was doing leading up to his death, according to a few witnesses, you participated in an argument with the victim—”

“Seriously?” Rufus spoke up from where he was standing next to Jiya, his arm still wrapped around her waist—and she was trying to ignore the feelings _that_ caused—as he glared. “Are you implying she killed him because that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever—”

“Rufus,” Jiya shot him a look that made the anger vanish from his face before she turned back to Logan. “Yes, there was an argument, Kyle seemed to be harassing a girl—”

“What was this girl’s name?”

Jiya looked annoyed at the interruption. “Lydia, I didn’t get the last name.”

“And this girl, Lydia, your friend Quinn knew her and Kyle?” Logan pressed. “From the way witnesses described it, it seemed like he and Kyle weren’t on the best of terms.”

A heavy sigh escaped Jiya. “Look, Inspector, I know you’re trying to find out what happened, but…”

She trailed off, catching sight of a familiar figure running towards her and calling out to her, “Jiya!”

“Amy,” Relief filled Jiya’s voice as she pushed past Logan to hug Amy tightly. “What are you doing here?”

“You were on the news, only in the background but still,” Amy pulled back, keeping her hands on Jiya’s shoulders as her mouth twitched. “Nice work, sis.”

Jiya couldn’t help but laugh, relief shining in her smile. “Yes, it seems all I had to do was stumble across a body to get my face on TV.”

Amy’s expression became serious, opening her mouth to ask her sister how she was when Logan decided now was the time for him to step in. “Excuse me, Miss Preston, but who is this?”

The question was directed at Jiya, though his gaze briefly flickered over to Amy, who stared back at him challengingly.

“This is Jiya’s sister, Amy,” Rufus explained, removing his arm from Jiya’s waist to cross his arms over his chest.

Logan nodded. “Well, Miss Preston—Flynn, what the hell are you doing here?”

The sudden change in tone made Jiya and Amy jump, their heads twisting as they followed Logan’s line of sight to where Flynn and Lucy were approaching with Iris following behind.

Lucy walked over to Jiya and Amy, looking over her shoulder as Logan moved towards Flynn, gritting his jaw. “So, it’s not just me he irritates,”

Amy couldn’t help but snort while Rufus looked from Flynn to Lucy with a bewildered expression on his face. “Sure, he _irritates_ you, Luce, that’s the emotion you feel.”

Shooting her an annoyed look, Lucy turned and hugged Jiya tightly. “How are you, Jiya? Flynn said you looked fine, but he only saw you for a few minutes, and we know the news isn’t always the most accurate and—”

“Lucy, breathe,” Jiya said softly, making sure Lucy’s eyes were on hers as she rubbed her shoulders. “Finding a body was definitely a shock, but I’m fine, really.”

“…contrary to popular belief Logan, I’m not trying to make your life difficult.”

Flynn’s dry tone drew the group’s attention, turning to see Logan scowling at Flynn while Iris watched with a look of amusement on her face.

“Got to be honest,” Rufus finally spoke, glancing again at Flynn. “I didn’t really think that was your type, Lucy.”

“I—what?” Amy and Jiya tried to hide their laughter as Lucy turned a deep red, her eyes wide. “We’re not—he’s not my type, because we’re not _dating_!”

Lucy quickly shut her mouth when she realized she had said the last part a little too loud, turning redder when Flynn and Logan glanced over her way. Flynn raised an eyebrow at her, but she pointedly ignored him.

“While we’re on the subject of Flynn, who’s the girl?” Amy whispered, gesturing at Iris, who smiled and waved.

“Ah, she’s his daughter.”

Amy and Jiya turned in unison to stare at Lucy in disbelief. “Flynn has a daughter?”

Lucy opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Logan, who seemed ready to either strangle or yell at Flynn.

“How exactly did you find out about this, Flynn, one of your contacts?” Flynn looked away from his staring contest with Lucy to glance at Logan.

“The news, Logan, it’s this wonderful invention that allows you to learn about what’s happening,” he grinned at the look on Logan’s face.

“Inspector Logan, are you done interrogating my sister and Rufus?” Amy decided to interrupt, seeing that Logan looked like he might just try to punch Flynn.

“I may have further questions,” Logan bit out, still glaring at Flynn. “But yes, for now, I’m done.”

“Great, then we can just go and—”

Jiya stopped, seeing the woman from earlier watching them. She took a step forward, which caused the woman to turn and begin walking away. “Hey, wait a minute!”

Ignoring the confused shouts of Amy and Lucy, Jiya took off after the woman, pushing her way through the crowd. She tried to keep the woman in her line of sight but, after watching her turn a corner and then trying to follow her, she came to a complete stop as no one was in the hallway.

“Jiya,” Lucy called out, panting slightly as she stopped. Amy was behind her, with Rufus and Flynn hurrying over. “Not all of us can run as fast as you.”

“I’m sorry, but I saw a woman and,” she hesitated before admitting quietly. “She was there, Lucy, when the body was found.”

“You’re sure?” Amy asked quietly, glancing over her shoulder at Flynn, who seemed to recognize they were talking about something supernatural and had pulled Rufus to a stop.

“Yes, absolutely,” Jiya nodded. “She looked…angry, _really_ angry.”

Lucy opened her mouth to ask more but was cut off by Flynn clearing his throat and approaching, Rufus following behind though he was staring at Flynn warily.

Iris came running over at that moment, looking frazzled as she glared at Flynn in particular. “Thanks for abandoning me to Inspector Logan Dad, really feeling the love there.”

Flynn chuckled warmly, wrapping an arm around Iris and pulling her into his chest, causing her to protest loudly.

“You know, those few seconds I spoke with him caused me to start fearing for my life,” Rufus mused quietly to Jiya, his gaze fixed on the father-daughter duo. “But now, I’m really conflicted.”

Flynn, sensing he was being watched, cleared his throat and released Iris. He ignored her muttering under her breath while she began fixing her hair before turning to look at the Preston sisters.

“Well, before Inspector Logan decides to insert himself with more questions,” he glanced at each woman. “Shall I escort you home?”

Lucy, Amy and Jiya shared a look, sharing a silent conversation in the way siblings sometimes do before nodding. “That sounds like a good idea.”

* * *

“Is it possible the woman was a banshee?”

Amy asked, frowning as she peered at the hand-drawn picture on the page. “No, wait, she only attacks those who are in mourning and somehow, I doubt Kyle Cabot was in mourning.”

“Not unless he was mourning the loss of his trust fund,” Flynn’s tone was low and amused, not even deigning to look up from his laptop which meant he was completely unaware of the look Amy was shooting him, a look that said _so help me, I’m going to smack you_.

“Thank you so much,” He did actually see the look Lucy was shooting him, though he just grinned at her. “Are you always a comedian?”

“He can get a lot worse,” Iris piped up from where she was seated next to Jiya, helping her go through some of the old trunks in the attic with an eagerness one would not expect from a teenage girl sitting on a dusty floor. “Why do you think Inspector Logan was so pleased to see him?”

Flynn slowly turned, a mocking glare on his face while Iris smiled innocently. “What is this, pick on your dad day?”

Iris just shrugged, standing up and brushing the dust off her jeans before walking over to Amy. Her eyes lit up while they examined the book. “So, this is the famous Book of Shadows?”

Amy’s mouth twitched upwards. “The famous Book of Shadows?”

“Yeah, I mean, every witch has their own book,” Iris, after looking at Amy for permission, ran her hands over one page carefully. “Mom—”

She caught herself, quickly glancing over at Flynn, who stared blankly at his screen, not really reading anything on it. Lucy looked between Flynn and Iris with an unsure expression while Jiya bit her lower lip.

Amy cleared her throat. “Your mother had one?”

Iris shook herself, smiling softly at Amy. “Yes, it’s still at the apartment somewhere, but _this_ book,” she tapped it softly. “this book contains more magical knowledge than any other.”

“Huh,” Amy glanced at the book. “How convenient of Mom to not mention that to us.”

The bitterness in her voice made Flynn and Iris look at her as an awkward silence fell over the group. Jiya broke it with a cheerful, “Well, it definitely came in handy when we had to vanquish your date, Amy.”

Amy glared at Jiya. “Am I going to have to put up with that from now on? At least I was actually trying to get some—”

She stopped herself, realizing that there was a minor in the room who was now looking at her curiously. “Get some what?”

“Friends,” Amy replied quickly, flipping the page. “I was actually trying to get some friends.”

A sigh of relief escaped her when Iris nodded, letting it go while Amy continued to look through the book. Amy raised an eyebrow when she turned to the next page. “Hey, here’s something, a revenant.”

All eyes turned to her as she read aloud, “ _A revenant is a type of ghost that has died in anger, their rage fueling them to come back and cause suffering by making others die the same way they did.”_

Lucy and Jiya stood up, walking over to look at the page over her shoulder. Jiya reached out to touch the page, only to gasp as she was thrown into a vision:

_Quinn faced the same woman Jiya had seen in a hallway, Lydia standing nearby and looking terrified. Quinn suddenly began gasping, dropping to the ground while Lydia screamed._

“Jiya?”

Jiya’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked around to see Lucy and Amy giving her a worried look. Flynn and Iris looked equally concerned. “What did you see?”

“The woman from before, she was attacking Quinn and Lydia,” Jiya hurried towards the door. “Come on, we don’t have any time to waste!”

“Jiya just—wait a minute,” Lucy let out a low growl, chasing Jiya down the stairs with thundering footsteps behind her. “We don’t even know how to vanquish this thing!”

“If we sit around here waiting, Quinn and Lydia are going to end up like Kyle, I know it!” Jiya stopped at the door, twisting to face Lucy as Amy, Iris and Flynn hurried down the stairs. “I’m not going to let more innocents die, Lucy.”

Lucy sighed in agreement, grabbing her coat before looking at Flynn. “Are you coming with us?”

Flynn nodded. “I just have to make a quick stop at a friend’s to drop off Iris,”

“Dad,” Iris protested, but Flynn simply shot her a stern look.

“Iris, we’re about to walk into an unknown situation,” He stepped forward, placing his hands on her shoulders and turning her, so she was looking him in the eye. “I want you to be safe, ok?”

Iris stared at him for a few moments, the two of them communicating silently before Iris sighed and nodded. “Alright, fine, but know I’m doing this under _extreme_ protest.”

Flynn just smiled, ruffling her hair, which made her half-heartedly try to smack his hands away. Turning back to the Preston sisters, who had been watching the scene with a mixture of expressions, he raised an eyebrow.

“Come on, we have two innocents to save.”

* * *

“Do you know where the attack happened, Jiya?”

Flynn asked as he, Lucy, Amy and Jiya moved through the crowd of students. Despite the fact the police had been there only a few hours over, the campus was still bustling with activity.

“In a hallway,” she glared when Flynn shot her an incredulous look. “What? It’s not like I have any control over what’s in the visions.”

“Well, trying to find a hallway on a _university campus_ is going to be a little bit difficult,” Flynn noted dryly, and Jiya could understand why he had a habit of irritating Lucy. “Especially without any distinct features.”

“So, what do we do?” Amy put her hands on her hips, looking from Flynn to Jiya. “How do we find this hallway?”

“We split up,” Flynn replied simply, his mind already whirling. “You and Jiya go one way, Lucy and I will go another way—”

“Wait, why do I have to be paired up with you?”

Flynn let out a low growl before turning to look at Lucy, who was glaring at him. “Is there a problem, Dr. Preston?”

“Yes, there is, _Flynn_ , the fact that you didn’t even deign to _ask_ me what I wanted—”

“We’re on a bit of a tight schedule here, forgive me for attempting to make this process go faster—”

As Lucy and Flynn’s conversation devolved into them sniping at one another—despite her sister’s protests, Jiya has the odd notion of calling this _flirting_ —but her attention was drawn away when she saw a familiar figure walking away.

“Lydia!”

Jiya called out, startling Lucy and Flynn before she pushed through two students, her sneakers pounding against the tiled hallway.

She tried to call out to Lydia again, but her voice was lost in the crowd, and she struggled to quickly move around two students, watching Lydia turn a corner.

Following her, she saw Lydia walking over to Quinn, who caught sight of Jiya and frowned in confusion. But before he could open his mouth, the woman appeared, causing Lydia to let out a scream of fright while Quinn whirled around.

“What the hell?”

Quinn exclaimed, though his breath quickly escaped in a gasp when the woman raised her hand. He brought his hand up to his throat as his face turned blue, dropping to the ground just like he did in Jiya’s vision.

“Oh, God, Amy!”

Lucy cried as she, Flynn and Amy came running over. Amy quickly raised her hands to freeze the woman, but, to the shock of her and everyone else (minus Lydia and Quinn), she simply cocked her head to the side.

“Uh, she didn’t freeze,” Amy pointed, her tone frantic. “Why did she not freeze?”

“Ghosts must be immune,” Flynn replied, slowly unholstering his gun while keeping his eyes on the woman while Lydia crouched down next to Quinn, who was choking on the ground.

Lucy squinted, but the woman was only thrown back a few steps, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “Do not interfere,”

She warned, her tone low before she turned to stare at Quinn, who was now coughing, his eyes wide while Lydia stared at him with teary eyes. “It’s pointless, you can’t save him.”

“Why are you doing this?” Lydia demanded, glaring at her. “Who are you, what have we done to you?”

“Your parents wronged me,” The woman slowly vanished as Quinn’s gasps began to become softer. “This is their punishment.”

“Quinn, Quinn, come on,” Jiya began pumping his chest, her First Aid training running through her mind while Lucy dialled 911. “Don’t do this…”

“Jiya,” Amy crouched down next to her, a hand on her shoulder while Quinn’s chest stopped rising. “He’s gone.”

Lydia let out a loud cry, clapping her hands over her mouth while Jiya stood, hands hanging uselessly at her sides.

_We couldn’t save him…_

* * *

“What is with you and showing up at my crime scenes, Flynn?”

Given the loud noise of the San Francisco Police Department, Flynn could almost have ignored Wyatt’s question, but the looks that he and his partner shot him made it clear that it wouldn’t be in his best interests to do so.

“Look, Inspector Logan, Inspector Baumgardner,” Flynn inclined his head in the latter’s direction, his mouth twisted in what was more of a sneer than anything else. “It’s late, I would like to go and pick up my daughter, I’ve already told you everything I know.”

Well, he paraphrased and adjusted his statement—somehow, he doubted saying _a dead woman drowned your victim on land_ would go over well.

“You still didn’t explain _how_ you and those women ended up at the scene just as the victim died,” Baumgardner pointed out calmly, always a bit more level-headed when it came to dealing with Flynn.

Flynn, however, simply shot him a look. “Those _women_ have names, Inspector, and I told you: Jiya is a student at the university, she wanted to go check on Quinn and Lydia because they were close to the previous victim and her sisters tagged along for support.”

Baumgardner raised an eyebrow. “That still doesn’t explain how _you_ know the Preston sisters, Flynn.”

“I attended one of Dr. Preston’s lectures,” Flynn shrugged at the look on Logan and Baumgardner’s faces. “What, I like history, and she’s a rather good teacher.”

Logan chuckled, the sound almost disbelieving. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s her _teaching_ skills you were interested in.”

Flynn’s eyes narrowed dangerously, not really liking the implication. “Yes, it is her teaching skills I am interested in, though the fact you glossed over that might be the reason you’re currently separated, Inspector.”

Logan turned red and stood up, looking like he was about to lunge across the desk at Flynn. Luckily, Baumgardner seemed to sense his partner’s murderous tendencies and cleared his throat. “Thank you, Flynn, you’re free to go.”

Nodding once, Flynn stood up and walked over to where Lucy and Amy were waiting. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Jiya wasn’t with them, and Lucy gestured with her head to where she was standing with Lydia and a woman who looked like her, though older.

“Lydia’s mother,” Lucy explained quietly. “Quinn’s father and mother already left.”

Flynn glanced at her, noticing the expression on her face. “You ok?”

“No, not really,” Lucy sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. “With Mark, we knew he had killed before and therefore, we had lost innocents, but for it to happen in front of us…”

“If it helps,” Flynn said in a slightly soft voice, stepping slightly closer to her. “I’ve unfortunately lost a few innocents as well.”

A soft smile bloomed across her face. “It does help a little bit.”

Flynn returned the expression before clearing his throat and walking over to Lydia. “Excuse me, Lydia, right?”

Lydia nodded, wrapping her arms around herself while her mother pulled her closer. “Yes, that’s me.”

“I’m very sorry about both of your losses,” Flynn gave her a reassuring smile. “But I would like to ask you a few questions.”

“I was under the impression the police had already asked her about everything,” Lydia’s mother questioned, narrowing her eyes.

“They have, Mrs…?”

“Claire De Loutherbergh,” she replied, absently brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Very well, ask away.”

“The woman who attacked Quinn was she familiar to you?” Flynn directed the question at Lydia. “She had dark hair, dark eyes, wore clothes at least a few decades old and had a mole on the left side of her neck…”

He trailed off when he saw Claire’s reaction, the widening of her eyes and the way her hand began to shake. “Mrs. De Loutherbergh, do you know who this woman is?”

“I…” Claire began, only to get cut off when an older man with greying hair walked over to her, reaching out to grasp her shoulder.

“Claire, I came as soon as I heard,” One of the men turned to Lydia, his grey eyes almost steel. “Lydia, how are you?”

“I-I’m fine,” Lydia let out a quiet chuckle. “Better than Quinn and Kyle are.”

“Warren Cabot, Kyle was my son,” The man explained, before examining Flynn with an almost critical eye. “Are you one of the detectives investigating these deaths?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Flynn’s tone was almost sharply polite. “Mrs. De Loutherbergh apparently recognized the woman who attacked your sons and Lydia.”

Warren frowned, looking at Claire, who shifted uncomfortably. “I never said that.”

“No, but your reaction to the description did,” Flynn took a step forward, staring intently at her. “Your daughter was almost killed, two men are dead, I think it’s time to start telling the truth.”

“Flynn…” Lucy said in a warning tone.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to imply,” Warren stepped in front of Claire, now face to face with Flynn and standing so close their noses were almost touching. “But I don’t like your tone.”

Flynn chuckled a low dangerous sound that made Jiya shiver. “No, I imagine you don’t, but quite frankly, I don’t give a damn about what you like.”

His gaze shifted to Lydia, who shrunk backwards. “What about you, Lydia? Do _you_ know what we’re talking about?”

“Please, she’s been through enough today,” Claire almost begged, reaching out to grasp her daughter’s shoulders.

Flynn’s eyes flashed, but before he could say anything, Jiya stepped in. “Thank you, Mrs. De Loutherbergh, Mr. Cabot, I think that’s everything we need.”

With another dark glare in Flynn’s direction, Mr. Cabot led the two women away, though Lydia looked over her shoulder at Jiya, meeting her gaze for just a second, before quickly averting her gaze.

It didn’t take long for Lucy and Flynn to get into an argument.

“What the hell was that, Flynn? She just saw one of her friends _die_ , you couldn’t show a little compassion?”

“It was quite obvious they were hiding something, Lucy, more importantly, whatever they’re hiding is probably the reason Quinn, Lydia and Kyle were targeted in the first place, and we need to know that—”

“So, you couldn’t have been less accusing? I swear you’re the human equivalent of a wrecking ball—”

“Alright,” Amy interrupted the flirting between her sister and Flynn. “We’re not going to get any more information standing here, let’s head back to the manor and see if the book can offer us anything else.”

Flynn and Lucy nodded, shooting each other looks before Flynn stuck his hands in his pockets. “Well, given it’s unlikely Inspector Logan will be willing to share anything about the autopsy reports with me, I’m going to go pick up my daughter and ask my friend if she can pull some strings for me.”

“Wait, how will your friend be able to…?”

Lucy asked, only to trail off when Flynn walked off without saying another world. She stood there for a few minutes, blinking rapidly, before muttering under her breath, “That man is going to drive me crazy.”

“And yet, your eyes were wandering,” Amy commented, quickly dodging her sister’s smack while Jiya let out a heavy sigh.

* * *

Jiya only briefly looked up from her laptop when she heard the door open, smiling as Flynn and Iris entered and hung up their coats. “Did your friend come through for you?”

Iris was the one who nodded, walking over to her. “Aunt Denise is _really_ good at getting people to listen to her, though she says Dad is the one exception.”

“Gee, that’s a shock,” Lucy commented, walking down the stairs with the book in her hands and pointedly not looking at Flynn, who was glaring at her. “So, I found the vanquishing potion for revenants, but there’s something else.”

She put the book down and pointed at a small bit of a text underneath the potion recipe. “According to this, a revenant can be convinced to move on if they can release the anger they feel about their death.”

“But we don’t know who this woman is or why she’s angry about her death,” Amy pointed out. “We don’t even know how she died.”

“Well, I might be able to help with that,” Flynn commented, smirking. “The autopsy reports confirmed both Quinn and Kyle had the same cause of death: secondary drowning.”

“Secondary drowning?”

Lucy, Amy and Jiya repeated, causing Iris to let out a small giggle while Flynn’s mouth twitched.

“Yes, it’s rare, but sometimes water can stay in a person’s lungs after they’ve almost drowned,” Flynn explained. “Symptoms include lethargy, pale or clammy face and a high fever, among others.”

“How terrifying,” Amy muttered.

“But what’s even more interesting is this isn’t the first-time secondary drowning occurred at San Francisco State,” Flynn’s eyes gleamed when he saw he had their attention. “Apparently twenty years ago, a freshman student died from it, Marianne Watson.”

He pulled out a picture and handed it to Jiya, who gasped when she saw the same woman who had attacked Lydia and Quinn. “Look familiar?”

“It’s her,” Lucy breathed.

“But what was interesting was before she died, Marianne went missing for a whole day with a few of her friends,” Flynn pulled out a chair and sat down, crossing one leg over the other while pointing at the picture. “And guess who the friends are?”

“I’m going to go with Claire De Loutherbergh and Warren Cabot,” Amy replied. “Do I win a prize?”

Lucy and Jiya rolled their eyes while Flynn chuckled. “Along with Quinn’s father Darren, no one knew what happened for the whole day she went missing.”

“So, what, they tried to drown her but failed and then she died anyways from secondary drowning?”

Lucy questioned, frowning. Jiya pulled out her laptop, fingers flying over the keyboard while Flynn sighed. “I don’t know; apparently, that’s what Marianne’s mother thought, and she tried to convince the police to investigate, but there wasn’t enough evidence.”

“So, Marianne died because of her friends,” Amy looked around. “How on earth are we going to convince her to let go of her anger?”

Tense looks were shared around the table, because honestly? None of them were sure they would be able to convince her.

And if that was the case…

“We need to make the potion,” Lucy decided, pushing her chair back and standing up. “One way or another, we need to stop Marianne before another innocent is lost.”

* * *

“I don’t like this,” Iris declared, and Jiya made a noise of agreement, flipping another page in the book opened in front of her.

Amy looked up from where she stood over the boiling pot, sighing while she stirred. “I don’t like this either, but we don’t have much of a choice if we’re going to save Lydia.”

“What if we got justice for Marianne?” Iris suggested, looking between the two with a hopeful expression on her face. “Get her friends to confess what happened to her?”

“That’s a long shot, Iris,” Amy pointed out, staring into the bubbly liquid. “They’ve kept quiet for nearly twenty years; they’re not going to confess what they did just because we asked.”

“Even Marianne’s mother couldn’t get them to admit what they did,” Flynn stated as he suddenly appeared in the door, causing Amy and Jiya to jump while Iris just turned to look at him. “She pleaded with them for years, but they never talked, she died a year ago without knowing what happened to her daughter.”

“That’s horrible,” Jiya whispered, frowning at the book.

Amy suddenly remembered something and cleared her throat. “While we’re on the subject of mothers, Jiya, does the name Benjamin Cahill ring any bells?”

Jiya’s eyebrow furrowed while Flynn stiffened. “No, not that I can recall, why?”

Amy shrugged, stirring the potion again. “Apparently, he’s been visiting Mom and giving her flowers, maybe he’s an old boyfriend?”

“Who’s an old boyfriend?” Lucy questioned, walking in with a raised eyebrow.

“Dr. Benjamin Cahill, does the name sound familiar to you?” Amy glanced at Lucy curiously, only to frown when Lucy shook her head.

“You’re sure it’s _Dr._ Benjamin Cahill?”

Blinking, Amy turned to look at Flynn, who was staring at her intently. “Yes, do you recognize the name…?”

Amy trailed off, eyes widening in realization. “Rittenhouse?”

Flynn grimaced, looking away. “The name came up when I was looking into them.”

“You know, you haven’t really told us what Rittenhouse is,” Lucy pointed out, narrowing her eyes. “Considering someone associated with them has been visiting our mother, I think we deserve to know.”

“I…” Flynn looked frustrated and opened his mouth to respond when the doorbell rang.

Jiya stood up, heading over to the door and opening it only to freeze when she saw Rufus standing on the front porch. “Rufus, what are you doing here?”

“I heard that Quinn’s dead and that you were present,” his expression became worried. “Are you ok, Jiya?”

Her mouth opened but nothing came out, because what could she tell him? Yeah, turns out Quinn, Kyle and Lydia’s parents killed one of their friends who is now seeking revenge by killing their children?

“I’m terribly sorry,” Flynn somehow slipped in behind Jiya, causing her to jump while he stared at Rufus with a not so polite smile on his face. “But we have things to attend to at the moment, so if you come back later, that would be great.”

_“Dad,”_ Iris hissed while Rufus blinked before looking at Jiya, who avoided his gaze.

His face fell, and he honestly looked like someone had kicked his puppy. “Jiya, you’ve been acting really weird, is something going on?”

Jiya’s cheeks flushed, her expression flummoxed as she looked from Flynn to Rufus before opening her mouth to reply when:

“Jiya?”

Lydia and Claire stood on the path leading up to the porch, Lydia looking between Jiya and Rufus with an uncertain expression on her face. “Is this a bad time?”

“I…” Jiya was sure the panic was visible on her face when she glanced at Rufus, who just gave her a soft smile.

“I’ll…I’ll call you later, ok?”

Before Jiya could say another word, Rufus turned and walked down the steps. Flynn quickly raised his hands in surrender when Jiya whirled around to glare at him.

“Look, we’re a bit busy right now,” Flynn stepped out of the way and waved Lydia and Claire in, who entered after a brief glance at each other. “You can talk to your boyfriend later.”

“I—what?” Jiya sputtered, cheeks flushing. “He’s not my boyfriend!”

Flynn raised an eyebrow before shaking his head, turning to look at the two women who were looking around the house. “Mrs. De Loutherbergh, I assume you and your daughter are here for a reason?”

Claire bit her lip, wringing her hands nervously before Lydia spoke up, “The woman we saw earlier, Mom knew her,”

“Marianne Watson,” Flynn crossed his arms, looking triumphant while Claire blinked at him in shock. “You and your friends killed her, didn’t they?”

“Once again, the human equivalent of a wrecking ball,” Lucy muttered while shooting him a look. Flynn just glared before looking at Claire.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

Claire let out a heavy sigh, nodding. “The boys, they thought Marianne thought _too highly of herself_ , she didn’t come from money and was on scholarship, but she was so brilliant.”

She swallowed, staring at a spot on the wall. “They wanted to show her who she really was, so they convinced her to come with us to the pool at Kyle’s house and then…”

The words were cut off as she shook her head, seemingly lost in her thoughts. “She looked so cold and _terrified,_ she begged them to stop, but they kept going, kept saying she should stay underwater and even pushed her back under.”

“But they let her out eventually, kept the necklace she always wore,” Claire recited. “They told her if she told anyone they would make her life miserable.”

“And then she died,” Jiya stated quietly.

Claire nodded, eyes watering. “We all swore to never speak about it, even when her mother came begging for answers.”

Silence fell over them until Lucy cleared her throat, stepping forward. “Claire, Marianne killed Quinn and Kyle,” she inclined her head at Lydia. “And she’s going to go after your daughter.”

Her eyes widened in panic as she gripped her daughter’s hand. “So, what—what can I do?”

“Potion’s done!”

Heads turned as Amy exited the kitchen, holding up a bottle. She came to a stop when she saw Claire and Lydia staring at her.

“The necklace you mentioned,” Flynn stepped forward. “Is it still at Kyle’s house?”

“Y-Yes,” Claire nodded, letting out a bitter laugh. “I think he viewed it as some type of prize.”

“Claire, there’s one thing you can do to help your daughter,” Flynn stared at her intently. “Come clean, confess what happened—”

“No, no,” Claire stated forcefully, shutting her eyes while Lydia shot her a bewildered look. “I put everything behind me, I married a good man, I have a good job, I’m not going to ruin that!”

“Even at the cost of your daughter’s life?”

Claire stiffened at Flynn’s question, shooting dagger at him before stomping towards the door. Lydia stepped forward, calling out desperately, “Mom, wait—!”

But whatever she was going to say was lost when the door slammed shut behind her mother, leaving her standing there with an expression of disbelief.

“Great, any other brilliant ideas—Flynn?”

Lucy began, only to frown at Flynn, who was already halfway out the door. Iris, with a confused expression on her face, followed her father. “Flynn, what are you…”

She trailed off as the door shut behind him. “Seriously, why does he do that?”

Amy just chuckled, waving the potion and staring at it with a frown. “Well, looks like we’re going ghost hunting, do you know where Warren Cabot’s house is?”

Lydia nodded, her face pale, but her eyes were narrowed in determination. “Yes, he lives in the same house.”

“Then let’s go.”

* * *

  
“What the hell are you talking about Lydia, I don’t know what your mother is talking about, but obviously she’s—”

“Okay, I’m going to cut you off right there,” Amy whirled around to glare at Warren, who was startled but not enough to stop glaring. His wife stood next to him, looking slightly nervous.

“You were apparently extremely jealous of a woman who’s only crime, in your mind, was that she didn’t come from money and was better than you,” She took a step forward. “You decided to teach her a lesson by holding her underwater in your pool, only for her to end up dead.”

“And to keep your picture-perfect life, you got all of your friends to cover it up,” An eyebrow raised while Amy watched the color drain from his face. “Am I correct?”

“I-I,” Warren stammered, his ability to speak vanishing just as they walked up to the doors leading to the pool.

“Is this the pool?”

Jiya whispered to Lydia, who nodded. Sharing a look with her sisters, Jiya slowly pushed open the doors and walked in.

The moonlight filtered in through the large glass windows and bounced off the water to illuminate the room, casting shades of blue. It was cold, and as Lucy rubbed her arms, she swore that she could see her breath.

“Where is the necklace, Uncle Warren?”

Lydia demanded, her own teeth chattering. “Where do you keep it?”

His look was defiant as he stared her down, though, after a few minutes of her not backing down, she began to falter only for his wife to step forward, heading over to a potted plant and digging in it for a few minutes before pulling something out.

“Here,” Lucy was handed the necklace while Warren gave his wife a look of betrayal. “He was always particular about that plant.”

“My mother gave it to me,” The low haunting voice made the group jump, the temperature somehow dropping even more when Marianne appeared. “It’s been in our families for generations, she gave it to me as a present for getting into university, and _you took it from me_!”

The doors slammed shut behind them, and Kyle hurried to try and open them, only for them to remain closed. “Marianne, I’m so sorry about what they did to you,”

Lydia said sincerely, taking one step forward. “What they did was wrong, my mother was wrong for staying silent, I want to make things right.”

Marianne stared at her for a few minutes, her expression seeming to soften until she caught sight of the bottle in Amy’s hands, and her eyes flashed in anger. “What is that?”

Amy shared a panicked look with her sisters while Warren, seizing his chance, lunged for the bottle. Amy let out a cry of surprise, trying to jerk it away from him, but after a few minutes, he managed to grab it.

“Oh, how little you’ve changed,” Marianne laughed when Warren turned to face her, gritting his teeth. “You’re still terrified of me, after all these years.”

She stretched her hand out, and Lydia suddenly began gasping, collapsing to her knees. “Go ahead, throw the potion, Lydia will die anyway.”

“Warren put it down!” His wife called out, her eyes desperate. “Please, Lydia is dying!”

Warren looked from his wife to Marianne to Lydia, who looked at him pleadingly, only for his eyes to harden as he raised his hand above his head. “I’m done being haunted by you!”

“No!” Amy called out, waving her hand and freezing everyone except her sisters and Marianne. Rushing over, Lucy squinted, and the bottle flew out of Warren’s hand into hers just when the sound of sirens reached her ears.

“Uh, what’s going on?”

Jiya asked nervously, just as the doors flung open, and Claire rushed into the room with Flynn and Iris following close behind. “Marianne, stop this!”

Claire begged, staring at her daughter, who now unfroze, still gasping. “I confessed; I told the police everything!”

“Claire, how could you?” Warren demanded, taking a step forward. “After everything I’ve done for you—”

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by Flynn stepping forward, a menacing look on his face. “I wouldn’t do that Warren, if I were you.”

“I’m sorry I lied for him, I’m sorry I let your mother die without knowing what happened to you,” Claire’s eyes watered. “Please, I accept my punishment, just don’t kill my only child!”

A tense silence fell over them as Lucy tightened her grip on the potion, wondering if she would have to use it anyway, only for Marianne to wave at Lydia, who began breathing normally.

Claire rushed to her daughter’s side, glancing at Marianne, who glowed with a warm smile on her face. “I wish I had stopped them.”

Marianne shook her head, glancing at Lucy, Amy and Jiya. “Thank you for everything.”

With that, she vanished in a puff of gold mist, just in time for Logan and Baumgardner to come rushing through the open doors with police officers behind them.

“Warren Cabot and Claire De Loutherbergh, you are under arrest for suspicion of negligent homicide,” Logan stated, walking over to cuff Warren while Baumgardner did the same to Claire, who stood up and held her hands out. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law, you have the right to remain silent…”

Claire gave Lydia an encouraging nod before allowing herself to be led out with Warren, whose wife was trailing after him. Logan handed his suspect off to an officer before turning to look at Flynn. “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not,” Flynn stated while Lucy stepped forward, handing him the necklace.

“It was Marianne Watson’s,” Lucy explained, a small smile on her face. “I think it could be considered evidence.”

Logan took it carefully, handing it off to an officer who placed it in a bag. “Thank you very much, ma’am.”

“I’m sorry, _ma’am?”_ Lucy demanded, but Logan was already walking away. “Do I look like a ma’am?”

“Well, you are older than both Jiya and I—”

Amy was cut off by Lucy, trying to smack her, dodging out of the way with a laugh. Jiya just sighed, shaking her head before smiling at Lydia.

They had managed to save an innocent without vanquishing the spirit, she was pretty sure that was something to celebrate.

* * *

“So, how did you manage to convince Claire to turn herself in?”

Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow when Flynn looked ready to protest. “Don’t look at me like that, I know you had something to do with it, didn’t he Iris?”

The question was directed at the girl in question, who chuckled and grinned. “He did, though I don’t know what he said.”

She looked at her father, who sighed, sensing he wasn’t going to be getting out of this one. “I simply told her that as a parent, I would do everything in my power to protect my child, even if it meant I would be separated from them in the process.”

Lucy blinked, staring at him with a soft expression on her face while Amy let out an _aww_. Flynn looked away, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“What is going to happen to them?” Iris asked curiously.

“They’re going to get, at most, four years in prison,” Flynn replied, shrugging. “Claire might get a plea deal since she confessed.”

His eyebrow went up when Jiya entered the dining room, carrying a candle, a box of matches, the Book of Shadows and a piece of paper. Lucy and Amy shared a look.

“Uh, Jiya?” Lucy gestured at the items. “What is this?”

“Look, Amy told us this Dr. Cahill guy has been visiting Mom,” Jiya pointed at Flynn. “According to him, he’s involved with some type of organization that was responsible for the death of his wife, a witch, meaning we can assume he’s some type of supernatural creature.”

She looked at Flynn, who nodded stiffly, his expression grim. “Rittenhouse has been linked to attacks on local covens.”

“Covens?”

“A gathering of witches, warlocks or witch practitioners,” Amy recited, grinning at the look on Lucy and Jiya’s faces. “What, I read, they get together to practice the craft.”

“Correct,” Flynn chuckled.

“Ok, so this Rittenhouse group has been attacking witches, and as stated before, Dr. Cahill is part of it,” Jiya waved her hand absently, opening the book to a specific page. “In the book, I found a Power of Three protection spell and I think we should cast it on this house.”

“Why not Mom’s hospital room?”

“The spell doesn’t work on public spaces,” Jiya explained. “There are protection charm bags that can be tied to an individual and therefore will work in a public spot, but in this case, the spell is geared towards a home.”

“Alright,” Amy rubbed her hands together. “What do we do?”

“First, we write the name of the person we want to be protected from on this paper,” Jiya did as she explained, picking up the paper. “Next, we light the candle.”

Amy reached out to grab the matches only to blink when Iris squinted at the candle, which immediately began burning. “Ok, I guess that works too.”

Flynn ran a hand over his mouth to hide his amused smile while Iris beamed innocently. Lucy found herself smiling at him before realizing what she was doing and, sensing Amy’s amused smirk, quickly diverted her gaze.

“Now we burn the paper, and as we do so, we chant this spell, each saying a different line before repeating the last line together three times,” She pointed at the page, waiting until Lucy and Amy were standing next to her before she lit the paper on fire.

Quickly joining hands with her sisters, Lucy took a deep breath before chanting, _“With this flame, we ask thee to stay away,”_

_”_ _Stay out of this place,”_ Amy added, watching the flame flicker as the paper began burning.

Jiya shared a look with her sisters when a blue glow surrounded the candle and stated calmly, _“We are not your prey,_ ”

“ _Leave us in peace,”_ Lucy found herself looking at Flynn as she quietly chanted the next line before joining her sisters as they chanted:

_We sisters three decree,_

_We sisters three decree,_

_We sisters three decree!_

The paper vanished in a puff of smoke, and tiny blue orbs rose from the candle, surrounding the house as an unmistakable wind blew through and extinguished the candle.

Lucy found herself pushing her hair out of her face before staring at the now unlit candle. Amy was practically giddy as she bounced on her toes next to her. “Oh my god, I love being a witch!”

“She says, despite two of her dates trying to kill her,” Jiya muttered under her breath, causing Amy to glare at her while Iris giggled.

“Well, as fun as that was,” Flynn drawled, grabbing his coat, which was draped over the chair. “It’s a school night for Iris tomorrow, so we should be heading home.”

Lucy nodded, walking them to the door before stopping Flynn. “Thank you for all your help, and I’m sorry for, you know…”

“…digging into my past?” Flynn finished, a smirk on his face. “I did it first, so it’s only fair, besides,”

Heat rose to Lucy’s cheeks when he leaned in, whispering into her ear, “I have nothing to be ashamed of, I know I’m _quite_ impressive.”

The smirk was still on his face when he stepped back, taking in her flushed face before waving, “Goodnight, Lucy.”

Still standing there, speechless, when the door shut, Lucy slowly shook her head and turned to see Amy and Jiya looking like Cheshire cats.

“Say one word,” Lucy threatened, glaring at the two. “And I will find a spell to turn you both into toads.”

* * *

Outside the house, a dark figure stood on the sidewalk, glaring at the now almost transparent shield that guarded the manor. He noticed Flynn and his brat leaving but decided it would be counterintuitive to attack them outside the house.

“Nice play Lucy,” the figure mused, a smirk curling his lips. “Once again, you and your sisters have proven yourself to be quite resourceful, that will come in handy for our purposes.”

Glancing around once, he vanished in a blink of an eye, leaving nothing behind to indicate he was ever even there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the Preston sisters have cast a protection spell over their house against Cahill, which hopefully means he won't be paying any unexpected visits. On the flip side, they've met both Iris and Logan but Jiya is now feeling the weight of keeping secrets from Rufus.
> 
> Next chapter involves the Charmed Ones trying to stop a warlock trying to corrupt forces of good while also finding out more about Rittenhouse and not liking what they find.


	4. How to Save an Innocent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A girl's night for the sisters with Jessica quickly turns supernatural when Jiya has a premonition of an innocent in danger. Also, Amy decides to find out more about Dr. Cahill but may not like what she finds.

"Wow, look at you,"

Jiya complimented as she ran into Lucy coming out her bedroom, her black ruffled dress brushing against her knees.

"You aren't too shabby either," Lucy stated, twirling Jiya around in her green dress. "This is going to be a fun night out."

Taking Lucy's arm in her own Jiya nodded, the two of them heading towards the stairs. "We really need a girl's night."

"No demons, no dealing with the mysterious coma our mother is in..."

Lucy trailed off, noticing the expression on Jiya's face. "Ok, something's wrong, what is it?"

"Nothing!" Jiya insisted, a bit too cheerfully, which made Lucy narrow her eyes. "Really, it's just..."

She groaned, turning towards Lucy and running her hand nervously through her hair. "Things with Rufus have been a bit difficult, with what happened with the revenant and the times I've blown him off,"

Waving her hand absently Jiya stated quietly, "Sometimes I just want to tell him our secret, but then I think that if I do, it's going to make things worse."

Lucy made a sympathetic noise, wrapping her arm around her shoulder sympathetically and pulling her close, leading her towards the kitchen.

"Do you think he won't believe you, I mean," Lucy made a gesture with her hand. "We are talking about the guy who watches people that wave around laser swords and can do things with the energy,"

"The Force," Jiya corrected in amusement. "It's the Force and the Jedi, but that's fiction, even he sometimes can get a bit nitpicky about the science of things and this..."

She trailed off as they walked into the kitchen to see a knife suspended in midair, the blade pointed towards the floor while Amy had her hands out and her eyes were narrowed at it.

"...this is probably a bit out of his comfort zone," Jiya finished, staring at the knife warily while Lucy cleared her throat.

"Amy, what the hell are you doing?"

Amy whirled around to look at them, causing the knife to unfreeze and imbed itself into the floor. "Damn it, I almost had it."

"What, almost killing yourself?" Lucy questioned, Jiya walking over to pull the knife out of the floor.

"I'm trying to see if I can get control over the unfreezing part of my powers," Amy explained. "You know, so we don't have to worry about something unfreezing early and then killing us."

"Uh huh," Lucy put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. "And you couldn't do this with a less dangerous object because...?"

"Because a knife is the most likely thing to be used against us in combat," Amy replied, her eyes widening before she turned to Jiya who was returning the knife to the knife block it came from.

"Hey Jiya, did you do the thing I asked about?"

"What thing did you ask about?" Lucy looked between her two sisters with suspicion. "And why was I not told about this?"

"Because you would probably not support what we were doing," Jiya replied before looking at Amy. "And yes, I did."

"And...?" Amy gestured for her to go on.

"Dr. Benjamin Cahill is currently a pediatric surgeon at the University of San Francisco Medical Center but," Jiya glanced at Lucy and Amy, taking a deep breath before continuing. "For a short period of time between 1981 and 1985, he was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley."

"Mom started attending there in 1979," Lucy stated in realization. "That must be how he knows her and also explains why he's been able to keep dropping off the flowers for Mom."

"So, what do we do with this information?"

“Well…” A sheepish expression crossed Amy’s face, causing Lucy to shoot her a suspicious look. “Apparently there’s a way that we can identify someone from their blood, telling us if they’re magical or not,”

“Amy…” Lucy’s voice took on a warning tone.

“So, I was thinking,” Amy winced. “Maybe I could go to the hospital and try to get his blood?”

“ _Amy_ ,” The name came out of Lucy’s mouth in a sharp hiss, glaring at her sister. “That has to be one of the most idiotic ideas you’ve ever had, and you’ve had quite a few.”

“Hey!”

Lucy ignored the outburst, pressing on. “If he _is_ magical—which seems to be the case—do you really think it’s a good idea to try and get his blood?”

“We won’t know for sure what he is unless I try,” Amy argued. “Plus, it’s a public place and I can freeze him, it will be fine Lucy.”

“I still don’t like this,” Lucy shook her head. “Maybe someone should go with you…”

“I could always ask Flynn to go with me,” Amy mused, unaware of the expression appearing on her sister’s face. “That might not be so bad, he can go all James Bond if need be, _oh_ and I can get information about him for you!”

“Amy!”

"I agree with Amy, Lucy," Jiya piped up. "We need to know what we are up against."

With a sigh of defeat, Lucy threw her hands up in the air just as the doorbell rang. Jiya left to go answer it while Lucy glared at Amy.

"Hey, you're not always right Lucy."

Turning her head, Lucy squinted at a cup on the table. Unfortunately, her anger was in control and the cup went flying into one of the cupboards, causing glass to shatter onto the floor.

"What happened here?"

Jessica asked, eyes wide in disbelief as she walked in with Jiya to see the mess on the floor.

"A minor accident," Lucy replied smoothly.

Jessica looked between her and Amy, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary she shrugged.

“Come on, it’s been a long time since we’ve been on the town, let’s get this party started!”

Amy cheered, wrapping an arm around Jessica’s shoulder before leading her towards the door. Jiya and Lucy followed close behind, but Jiya managed to lean in and whisper, "Maybe Amy had a good point about learning to control our powers."

The look Lucy shot her was pure annoyance. "I hate you."

Jiya grinned back. "Nah, I'm the visionary in this family."

Lucy's only response was a dry snort.

* * *

The instant Lucy stepped into the darkened club and the first beats of the music filled her ears, she realized she might have made a wrong decision in coming here.

“Does it have to be so loud?” She asked—well, more like yelled—at her sister. Lucy stumbled slightly when an already drunk patron knocked into her, causing Jiya to reach out and steady her.

“It’s a _club_ , Lucy,” Jessica yelled back, her mouth turned up in a smile. “Loud music is kind of the main attraction.”

“Right,” Lucy winced, rubbing her ears. God, maybe she was getting old.

“Look, there’s a table!” Amy pointed, though it was rather hard to see over the flashing lights.

It took some maneuvering and a very close call involving Jessica, Amy and what appeared to be a rather drunk businessman but eventually, they made it to the table, Lucy plopping down in the chair with a groan before resting her head in her hands.

“Are you alright, Luce?” Jiya asked worriedly, Amy and Jessica having already left to get drinks.

“Yeah, just give me a minute for the pounding in my head to pass,” Lucy muttered, looking up as Amy put a glass in front of her. “Thanks, sis.”

“No problem,” Amy took a sip of her glass before slowly turning her head to stare at something. Twisting her head Lucy saw a rather pretty dark-haired woman who smiled at Amy.

She turned to look back at Amy who was now finishing her entire glass, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you were taking a break from dating?”

Amy shot her a look while Jessica looked between the two, confusion on her face. “Why are you taking a break from dating, did something happen with Mark?”

Lucy shared nervous looks with her sisters before standing up, reaching out to grab Amy’s glass. “Hey, looks like you’re finished, why don’t I go get you another one?”

Before anyone could say something, she walked over to the bar, clumsily dodging out of the way of two drunk women with their arms around each other before putting the glass down. “Bartender, can I get another scotch?”

It took a full ten minutes for the bartender to actually notice her, occupied as he was with two twenty-somethings—apparently, she _was_ getting old, which made her scowl at him—but he did eventually wave at her to indicate he got her order.

Letting out a sigh she turned to rest her body against the bar, smiling softly when she saw Amy and Jessica dancing on the dance floor. Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone move close to her and she rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to tell whoever it was she wasn’t interested when a rather familiar voice beat her to it:

“Somehow, you didn’t strike me as a scotch-drinker.”

Eyes wide her gaze snapped upwards and she found herself staring up (literally, why was he so tall?) at a smirking Flynn. She found herself staring a lot longer as she noticed the way his dark leather jacket stretched over his shoulders and how two buttons on his shirt were unbuttoned—

“It’s not polite to stare,” His drawl broke her out of her musings and she was sure her cheeks were heated when she brought her eyes back up to his face.

However, she couldn’t help but notice that _his_ gaze was also wandering. She ignored the heat that rose in her at that revelation and shot his own words back at him, “It’s not polite to stare.”

Unlike her, he didn’t turn into a flustered mess, instead simply looking her in the eyes and shrugging, casual as if he hadn’t just been admiring her.

“Why are you here?” She glanced around before stepping closer. “Are you _stalking_ us?”

“No, I—wait, us?” Flynn squinted at her in confusion. “You’re not here alone?”

His voice had taken on an odd tone, if Lucy didn’t know better, she’d almost think he sounded jealous. Pushing _that_ thought out of her mind before she went down the rabbit hole, she inclined her head towards where Amy and Jessica were dancing.

“Girl’s night out,” She turned and took the drink from the bartender with a quiet thank you. “Considering everything that’s been happening, we figured it would be nice to get out for a bit.”

Flynn’s mouth twitched, glancing at the two women before looking over at Jiya who was watching her sister with a grin. “That would be Inspector Logan’s wife, correct?”

Lucy blinked. “Yes, how—oh right.”

“To be fair, I’ve never actually met her,” he smirked. “Inspector Logan and I aren’t exactly drinking buddies and from what I understand, they weren’t…”

He trailed off, his meaning implicit and Lucy nodded. She realized she still had Amy’s drink but the woman in question was having fun at the moment, and for reasons she didn’t want to get into, she wasn’t in a hurry to do so.

“You never answered my question, Flynn, if you aren’t stalking us, why are you here?”

Her eyes widened. “There isn’t some kind of spirit haunting the club is there? Or a warlock trying to kill witches—”

“No,” Flynn chuckled. “I _am_ working, but it’s for a far more mundane cause.”

He stepped closer and Lucy tried not to shiver when he brushed against her, whispering in her ear. “If you look to your left, you will see a middle-aged man currently occupied with a woman who is definitely not his wife.”

Casually Lucy glanced over her shoulder and, following Flynn’s directions, her gaze indeed landed on a man with a pretty redhead in his lap who was giggling into his ear.

“So, you’re here on the behalf of a suspicious wife?”

She remarked, turning back to Flynn who was still standing close to her. Flynn leaned against the bar, staring into her eyes with a piercing gaze that made her breath catch. “Yes, and I do believe I have enough evidence that will be satisfactory.”

He nodded and she turned to see the woman lean in to kiss the man in question, becoming more passionate. Lucy flushed and turned back, biting her lip. “Well, it was good to see you again, but I should be getting Amy’s drink to her so…”

She grabbed the glass, raising it to him before turning and instantly knocking into someone. The scotch went all over his suit as glass shattered onto the ground.

“I’m so sorry,” Lucy apologized, gesturing at the bartender who quickly went to grab a towel. “I wasn’t looking where I was going, I can be clumsy—”

Her words died in her throat as her arm was gripped roughly, wide eyes shooting up to stare at a _very_ angry man. “This suit is an Armani, it’s now ruined because of your actions,”

“She said she was sorry,” Flynn’s voice took on a dangerous tone, stepping forward and staring the man down in a way that would make any smart person back down. “It was an accident, let the woman go _now_.”

Lucy saw her sisters and Jessica approaching them, Amy having a look on her face that never boded well for the person on the receiving end of it. “Let my sister go!”

The man briefly glanced over his shoulder, barely sparing Amy a glance before turning back to Lucy, yanking her towards him, “Listen here—”

But whatever he was going to say was left unsaid as Lucy took advantage of the self-defense lessons she had been taking, sliding her left leg back before raising her elbow and bringing it over the arm holding onto hers, quickly bringing it down and breaking his grip before moving away from the man.

A hard chest hit her back and she looked up to see Flynn smiling down at her, though the smile turned into a hard line when he lifted his head to stare at the man.

“Sir, I’m going to ask you to leave,” A bouncer stated firmly as he approached and Flynn couldn’t help but think, not unkindly, that it was about time for him to step in.

The man didn’t respond, so the bouncer repeated the request, “Mr. Pearson, please leave before you cause any more trouble.”

Lucy frowned, the name ringing a bell, but she didn’t have time to think about it as Mr. Pearson turned to look at her. Her breath caught when she saw the look of pure hatred on his face—were his eyes glowing as well?—before he lunged at her.

Flynn yanked her back, an arm protectively around her waist while Jiya ran in front of them, grabbing Mr. Pearson’s arm and causing him to come to a complete stop. “Mr. Pearson, don’t do this, it won’t…”

Jiya stopped, the words trailing off when she looked down at his arm, the sleeve having rolled up slightly, to see an odd swirly mark on his wrist.

Suddenly she was tossed into a premonition:

_Mr. Pearson was stumbling in what looked like a house, dark veins appearing on his face and arms before he collapsed. A man walked forward, holding out his hand and drawing out a blue orb before vanishing._

Jiya stood there in stunned silence while Mr. Pearson was yanked out of her grip by two bouncers, screaming and cursing as he was dragged out of the club. Onlookers stared in disbelief and shock at the scene, quiet whispers filling the silence.

“God, what an asshole,” Jessica muttered as she walked over to them. Flynn was still holding onto Lucy and if Jiya wasn’t so distracted, she would have found it amusing that Lucy wasn’t trying to remove herself from his hold.

“Jiya, are you ok?” Amy placed her hand on her shoulder, staring at her with a worried look.

Jiya took a deep breath, shaking her head before proclaiming in a quiet voice, “I think Mr. Pearson may be more innocent than we think.”

* * *

Quiet mutterings filled the room as Jiya turned another page in the book, glancing at the side to stare at the rough drawing she had made of the tattoo on Mr. Peterson.

“Any luck?”

Lucy asked, breaking through the silence and walking over to her sister. Jiya shook her head, turning another page.

“No, so far I haven’t been able to find—wait!”

Jiya turned the book towards Lucy, pointing at a sketch of a dark-haired man next to the swirly mark. “That’s the mark!”

Leaning forward Lucy began reading, _“Damon: a specific type of warlock known for corrupting those who would assist the forces of good, he marks his targets with a tattoo and slowly brings their darkest desires to the surface before feeding off their soul for power.”_

“Gee, cheerful guy,” Amy noted, popping in over Jiya’s shoulder and startling both of her sisters.

“Really Amy?” Lucy put her hand on her chest, waiting for her heart rate to return to normal. “That’s something Flynn would do.”

Amy smirked. “Aw, are you missing him already?”

“Back to the warlock corrupting people,” Lucy deliberately avoided the question, turning her attention to the book. “Given that the warlock targeted Mr. Pearson, I assume he’s supposed to be a paragon of good?”

“I find _that_ hard to believe,” Amy muttered, the man may be an innocent, but that didn’t mean she’d forgive him for accosting her sister.

“His name sounds so familiar,” Lucy frowned, walking over to Jiya’s laptop and typing on the keyboard for a few minutes before her eyes lit up. “Oh!”

Jiya and Amy hurried over to her where an article with Mr. Pearson was on the screen. _“Mr. Pearson is a generous benefactor to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, personally funding several important additions to the hospital in addition to providing support to Stanford University, he is also well-regarded for his extensive volunteer work…”_

“Definitely seems like the article is trying to grant him sainthood,” Amy noted dryly, crossing her arms over her chest while Lucy and Jiya shot her a look. “If there’s any criteria for being a paragon of good, I suppose Mr. Pearson fits it.”

“The only question is, how do we save him?” Jiya walked over to the book, flipping through the pages with a single-minded focus. “There’s no mention of a spell, no potion recipe…”

“Maybe,” Lucy began, waiting until their gazes had shifted to her. “Because we need to create the spell ourselves.”

There was a brief silence that passed over them before Jiya huffed. “Well, we should probably get started then.”

“Actually,” Amy stood up, shooting her sisters meaningful looks. “While you do that, I have something else I need to do…”

Lucy and Amy stared at each other before Lucy let out a heavy sigh, stepping forward to pull Amy into a tight hug. “Promise me you’ll be careful?”

Stepping back Amy squeezed Lucy’s hands before winking and stating in a warm, reassuring tone, “I’m a Charmed One, I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” was the soft reply Lucy gave.

* * *

“Michelle!”

Flynn called out with a grin as he walked through the doors of the restaurant Michelle Christopher ran with the help of her wife. The hostess shot him a look, but was waved off by Michelle’s reassuring smile.

“Garcia,” she greeted, hugging him tightly before raising an eyebrow after pulling back. “I’ve heard that you’ve been getting into some interesting adventures.”

“I _am_ a private investigator with a specialty in the supernatural, Michelle,” Flynn pointed out offhandedly, allowing Michelle to lead him towards a table in the corner that would afford them some privacy. “Interesting adventures is in the job description.”

“You know very well that’s not what I’m talking about Garcia Asher Flynn,” Michelle glared at him, causing Flynn to raise his hands in surrender. “Is it true? You’ve met the Charmed Ones?”

Flynn opened his mouth to make another smart remark but quickly changed direction when he saw Michelle looked like she was going to smack him. “Yes, I have.”

“And you met them by sneaking into a hospital room?”

“I…yes,” Flynn admitted sheepishly. “I did get thrown into a wall for my troubles, so I think we’re even at this point.”

Michelle hummed, calling over a nearby waiter and asking them to bring some water. Glancing around, Flynn noticed the restaurant was rather busy—to be fair, business had been doing well so it was rarely slow, but there seemed to be a heightened frenzy.

“Are some of your employees sick, because everyone seems to be rather panicked,” Flynn noted.

Sighing in agreement Michelle slumped back in her chair. “No, we just got a last-minute catering order for tomorrow night that we’re scrambling to fill.”

“Oh?” Flynn leaned forward. “Let me guess, some fundraising event for a group of politicians to shake hands and exchange money for a good cause? No, it’s a wedding for the daughter of some rich business-man…”

A snort of laughter escaped Michelle as she shook her head. “Good guesses, but no, it is for a fundraising event though, hosted by Daniel Pearson—”

“Pearson?” Flynn interrupted, his eyes narrowing. “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” Michelle stated, stretching out the word while staring at him suspiciously. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but how do you know that name?”

“It’s come up in one of my new cases,” Flynn replied evasively. “It’s being hosted by Pearson?”

“At his house, yes,” Michelle paused as the waiter returned with the drinks, her and Flynn thanking him before he left.

Michelle brought the glass to her lips, taking a sip only to pull it back and frown at it. “No ice,”

Flynn watched Michelle look around before raising her hand over the glass, the water slowly beginning to form ice cubes until she stopped.

“So, I don’t suppose you’d be able to get some invites to this event,” Flynn asked casually, resting his chin on his hands.

A worried look crossed Michelle’s face. “Garcia…”

“I promise I’m not going to,” Flynn stopped when a waitress walked back before lowering his voice. “ _Assassinate_ him, Michelle, he’s an innocent in danger.”

Michelle blew out a sharp breath, bringing her hand up to rub her forehead. “I can’t make any promises Garcia, but I’ll try.”

Flynn smiled. “Thank you, I greatly appreciate it.”

“What do you greatly appreciate?”

Flynn and Michelle turned to see Denise Christopher walking over with Iris following close behind. Flynn immediately got out of his chair and walked over to pull his daughter into a hug, swinging her around slightly which caused her to squeal.

Michelle greeted her wife with a warm kiss before turning to greet Iris after she had been released from her father’s grip. “Iris, look at you, you’ve grown so much!”

“Aunt Michelle, you literally saw me a few days ago,” Iris pointed out.

“Well, considering who your father is, I’m fairly certain you’ll keep growing,” Michelle replied, shooting Flynn a cheeky grin.

“Oh, how wonderful it is to be insulted for my height,” Flynn retorted dryly, pulling Iris back to his side.

“So, what exactly did you convince my poor wife to do for you Flynn?”

Denise questioned, shooting Flynn a suspicious look that clearly said _try to lie and you will face my wrath._ Really, Flynn worried at how well he was able to read Denise’s silent threats on his person.

“I simply asked Michelle if she would be willing to help me get invited to the event she’s catering,” Flynn replied, watching Denise’s eyebrow go up.

“And why, I’m afraid to ask, are you wanting to _attend_ this event?”

“There is an innocent that needs to be saved Denise, you know how it is, fight the good fight,” Flynn grinned sharply.

Denise let out a sharp breath, opening her mouth to say something when her phone beeped. Pulling it out of her pocket, a frown formed on her face.

“What is it?” Flynn questioned, stepping closer.

“Well, I’ve been having agents monitoring Dr. Cahill at your request, seeing who pays him a visit and it seems he got a new visitor at the hospital,” Denise turned the phone towards him and Flynn leaned in to take a look.

His eyes widened when he saw Amy looking over her shoulder as she walked into the hospital. Iris, seeing her father’s look, peered over his shoulder and let out a quiet gasp.

“Do you know her?”

“That’s Amy Preston,” Flynn stated, already grabbing his jacket from his chair. “One of the Charmed Ones.”

“Why is she visiting Dr. Cahill?” Denise asked, turning while Flynn walked past her, shrugging his jacket on.

“He knows her mother, who’s in the hospital right now,” Flynn turned to see Iris hurrying over to him. “But I don’t know why she decided to pay him a visit.”

“Dad…”

“Denise, do you mind looking after Iris?” Flynn waited until Denise shook her head before heading to the door again.

“Dad!” Iris tried to follow him, only to be stopped by him pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. “Let me come with you—”

“Iris, it’s too dangerous,” Flynn stared at her intently, swallowing heavily. “If anything happened to you, I…please, stay with Denise.”

Iris made a face, looking like she wanted to protest but Flynn kissed her on her forehead before waving at Michelle and Denise. “Text me as soon as you can Michelle!”

“Flynn—” The door slammed shut, cutting off whatever she was going to say.

Feeling a headache coming on Denise brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Come on Iris, Mark wants to see if he can beat you at Mario Kart…”

* * *

_You alright Amy, you and your sisters left kind of abruptly after that incident at the club_

Amy sighed, staring at the screen with her thumb hovering over it. All around her was the typical chaos one would expect to see in a hospital, doctors and nurses rushing around while voices appeared on the intercom.

 _We’re fine, Jess,_ Amy typed back. _Lucy was a bit shaken by the incident, so we decided to take her home._

Three dots appeared on the screen and Amy briefly put her phone away, walking up to the receptionist's desk with a bright smile. “Hello, I was wondering if Dr. Cahill was available?”

Looking up from the computer the nurse, a woman with short dark hair, raised an eyebrow. “No, he’s on his rounds, may I ask why you’re asking?”

“He’s an old friend of my mother’s and I was hoping to stop by and say hello,” Amy replied. “My mother’s unfortunately in the hospital at the moment, and he’s been such a great comfort to her.”

The nurse gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry to hear that, but as I said before, he’s on his rounds.”

“I understand,” Amy put on a warm smile. “Could I maybe wait for him in his office?”

Pursing her lips the nurse seems hesitant but after glancing around she leaned forward and pointed down a hallway. “If you head down the hallway and go left, then take another right it will be the third door on the left.”

“Thank you,” Amy waved at her before following the directions, taking out her phone to see Jessica had sent another message: _Let me know if you need anything, alright_?

A winky face was included and Amy couldn’t help but laugh before putting the phone away, taking a deep breath when she came to a stop in front of a door with a metal plate on it saying _Dr. Benjamin Cahill, M.D._

First, she tried the door, only for it to be locked. With a quick look around, she fiddled in her pockets before pulling out a bobby pin and crouched in front of the door. “Come on years of teenage rebellion, time to pay off.”

She ended up fumbling with the lock for a few minutes, curses falling out of her mouth before she heard the telltale _click_. Resisting the urge to pump her fist in the air she quietly snuck into the office, shutting the door behind her.

Amy wasn’t exactly sure what she expected—maybe an athame lying around?—but the office itself was clean and minimalist: a bookshelf against the wall, a few photos scattered about and a desk with a computer.

“Well, I might as well,” she muttered, walking over to the desk and moving the mouse to wake the computer up.

However, she wasn’t prepared for what was on the desktop, namely a picture of a younger Lucy smiling at the camera. Her heart stopped and a chill went up her spine while she tried to process what she was seeing.

Why did Dr. Cahill have a picture of Lucy as his screensaver? Amy wasn’t an expert, but she was pretty sure it was _extremely_ creepy for a professor to have the picture of the daughter of one of his former students.

Fumbling with her phone she quickly took a picture of the screensaver before starting to rummage around in his desk, only to freeze when she heard voices approaching.

“Thank you, Cheryl, please do the bloodwork for Mr. Kent…”

Amy quickly ducked behind the desk, covering her mouth as the doorknob began turning. She heard him mutter, “Huh, must have forgotten to lock the door,” before his sneakers appeared in her line of sight.

Peeking out the man she assumed was Dr. Cahill hung up his lab coat, letting out a deep sigh before turning to the bookshelf. A glint of a gold wedding band caught her, which made her even more suspicious in regards to the incriminating photo she found on his desktop.

He pivoted and began heading towards her, causing Amy to quickly flick her hands and freeze him in place. Rushing to her feet she pulled out a small safety pin and prepared to stick it in him when she heard the door open.

Her head swirled towards the door in a panic only to let out a deep breath of relief when Flynn walked through the door, though he didn’t look too pleased to see her. “Oh, thank God, it’s only you.”

“You’re lucky it’s only me, what the hell are you doing?” He demanded, gesturing at the frozen Dr. Cahill.

“Uh,” Amy quickly glanced at Dr. Cahill, then at the pin she was holding before turning back to Flynn. “I’m going to prick him and use his blood to see if he’s supernatural?”

“You—” Flynn pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s your brilliant idea, put yourself in danger?”

“Look, this is the only way to confirm for sure what the hell he is—oh no, he’s starting to unfreeze,” Amy began only to trail off nervously when the freeze slowly began wearing off and Dr. Cahill started to move again.

“Quickly, prick him now!”

Flynn hissed and Amy did as he asked, quickly pricking the maybe not so good doctor in his arm and gathering a tiny bit of blood before Flynn yanked her out of the office. They heard a muttered curse but continued their quick pace until they reached the lobby.

“Well, that was fun,” Amy noted, slightly out of breath before examining the small tube of blood in her hands. Flynn just shot her a look that said _I can’t believe you just said that_ before shaking his head.

“So, what do we do now?”

“Well, I need to go home and cast the spell to figure out once and for all what Dr. Cahill is,” Amy frowned, remembering something and tucked the vial away before grabbing her phone.

Flynn looked at her curiously and peered over her shoulder while she flicked through her phone. His eyebrow went up when he saw the picture of a younger Lucy pop up. “Who’s that?”

“It’s Lucy, it was on his desktop,” Amy muttered, sensing tension behind her she turned to see Flynn had a dark expression on his face. “Uh, I’m going to assume you don’t like this either?”

“Not one bit,” Flynn bit out, looking away from the picture when his own phone let out a beep. He pulled it out, eyes scanning the screen before his mouth curved up in a smirk.

“That look doesn’t bode well, what is it?” Amy asked suspiciously while Flynn put his phone back and began leading her out of the hospital.

“I just received word from Michelle—Denise’s wife—that she was able to get me two invites to Mr. Pearson’s charity event tonight,” Flynn explained. “The charity event is at his house, which likely means it’s where Jiya’s vision will be happening.”

Amy’s eyes widened in realization before she came to a complete stop and turned to face him, one of her eyebrows going up. “So…?”

“So,” Flynn smirked, looking a bit too pleased with himself. “It looks like I’ll be needing a date for tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this should be interesting. So, instead of doing one super long chapter like I did the last one, I decided to split this into parts (for my sake, more than anything else). Hope you enjoy.
> 
> The next chapter has the actual charity event with Jiya confronting her issues with Rufus sooner than she'd like while Lucy gets dressed up (and she might not actually mind technically being on a date with Flynn).


End file.
